Devotional - July 2, 2004

It's been said that what one generation tolerates, the next will embrace. Hezekiah proved it. He spent his life doing the right thing but must not have spent much time teaching those values to his son, Manasseh. We know that because Manasseh was twelve years old when he took his father's throne and then spent thirty-five years proving he was worthless.

Manasseh was so bad he sacrificed one of his sons on an altar to Baal. We know at least one son was spared because Amon continued the reign of wickedness he father started. It makes me wonder if the son who was killed was more like his grandfather than his father. But then there was Amon's son Josiah, who was like his great-grandfather and restored righteousness to the throne of Judah when his father died.

Young Josiah set things straight with the help of another young man named Jeremiah. Josiah restored faith in the people for the word of God. But they would still pay for the sins of their fathers. In Jeremiah 2:13, the prophet wrote that the sins of Judah were twofold: 1) They turned from God and 2) embraced something else. Because of this, they and their children lost their liberty and became slaves to an alien nation.

It's amazing we're so slow to learn from our own mistakes or from those others make. It's true that those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. You and me are proving it by continuing to do the very same things Judah did under the reign of wicked kings. We not only fail to regard God's word but we turn to whatever else is at hand.

Judah was sent into slavery and lost their independence because of their sin. What is our fate, seeing we have done similar things as Judah? Will God give us a pass? Some think being a Christian places us out of danger of judgment because of our salvation by "grace." But does the fact God won't give us what we deserve also mean we are exempt from obeying his word? No way!

If you're guilty of this problem, it might surprise you to learn you that you are already judged and sentenced. Your sentence is the same as Judah's. You have become a slave to sin and you've lost your independence. Everything you do is a product of sin, wholly unacceptable to God, even your spiritual service.

But there's good news for the redeemed. We can return to God at a time of our choosing when we humble ourselves and pray and seek God's face; turn from our wicked ways and be restored.

Listen, if you're a slave to sin, don't blame God. In medical terms, you have what's called a codependency problem. That is, one party (you) needs the other party (sin) in order to survive and as long as you share this condition, every action by one party feeds the other. If you don't believe it, just try to give up sin and watch temptation go to a new level.

Judah is history, but God will not forget his promises. Neither will he forget you if you caught up in sin and serving it as lord and master. He is ready to restore you, but not until you want it, therefore it's not God's problem is it?

1 Developed from Read the Bible Thru (2 Ki. 20:1-22:3 Ac. 21:18-36 Ps. 150:1-6 Pr. 18:9-10 )
2. Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society