Some things you come across in Scripture are hard to believe, unthinkable even. 2 Chronicles 29:3 is a perfect example. It is only one sentence but it reveals so much.
“In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them.”
Wow……..as I view that sentence describing the actions of King Hezekiah early in his reign, I am amazed that such a thing could have happened. And yet, reading from the Chronological Bible of the Israelites and their fickle relationship with the Lord, it should not surprise me. Isn’t this what happens when a people believe the lie the enemy has fed them.
What makes this story so tragic is that it was not from enemy hands that the doors were closed. It is hard to believe that the Israelites themselves shut the doors, through their own complacency. Why? What could make a people drift so far from the God who redeemed them out of slavery, the God who rescued them countless times from enemy hands? How could they become so foreign to Him who knew them so well?
It is not completely accurate to say that an enemy was not to blame. The flesh and blood enemies of that day were not their biggest threat. It was a spiritual threat that posed the greatest danger. Their enemy from day 1, the same enemy of Adam and Eve in the garden (Genesis 3), was the instigator in this travesty. Satan’s ploy from the beginning was to cause God’s children to stop following Him. He set out to disrupt the fellowship and relationship between God and man. And as he was successful with Adam and Eve, he was also years later. Satan was so effective that not only did the chosen Israelites drift far from God, they stopped going to church all together. The temple doors were eventually shut and in disrepair.
Considering all that the Lord had done for them time and time again, this was unthinkable. How could they forget? How could they not be more grateful? More loyal?
Their enemy had fed them a lie that is still believed by many today. It is a lie that works across continents and lifetimes. It is just as successful today as it was back then.
- God’s people don’t need Him.
Even though their existence was from God and through God’s will and power, they decided they wanted autonomy. They did not want His commands to govern them nor did they want God guiding them. The Israelites wanted to determine for themselves how they lived their life and what that life would look like. In essence, they wanted the authority. It did not matter anymore that God was the One who created them and carried them. They began to think they could do it well enough for themselves. So they stopped going to the temple where they would only be reminded of Him anyway.
2. God offers no value.
Why don’t they want Him? Because they don’t value Him. The Israelites had lost sight of all God had done for them. They let go of the memories of His marvelous acts on their behalf. They ceased to value what they no longer remembered. What they did not talk about and marvel at became forgotten over time. Then it made no difference anymore. So what value was the Lord to them? He became rules on paper. Only a matter of time before the motivation to follow rules gives way to ingratitude and selfishness.
God implemented what He knew would help His children persevere and succeed. By going to the temple (church), where they would hear God’s Word reminding them of who He was and all He had done for them, they would worship and value God for all that He was worth. Continually being aware of Truth, the Israelites would be able to withstand their enemies, both physical and spiritual. Just as a child is safer when staying close to their parent, so are His children safer close to Him.
The profit of reading the stories of the people in the Bible is that we can see for ourselves how these lives turned out. It is in black and white if the Israelites’ choices were advantageous. It did not go well for them in their day to rebel and dismiss God and it will not be any different outcome for our day and time.
The enemy of the Israelites is the same enemy of our day. Satan still tries to disrupt the relationship of God and His people. When we begin to pull back in rebellion from His commands, thinking we don’t need Him bossing us around in our contemporary culture, we are placing the chains around the church doors ourselves.
And when we begin to forget how awesome and glorious our Heavenly Father is, the wonder of a loving Savior that paid our sin death as He was brutally crucified on the cross, we lose sight of the value of our salvation. What we no longer value translates into forfeiting the unending grace available to us throughout our day. The extent of what God has done is what He will continue to do!
By forgetting His loving ways on our behalf, it will not be long before we begin to skip church, thinking it irrelevant in our day and time, with our busy schedules. When church attendance is decided weekly, or dependent on any better options, then our complacency may shut out God’s blessings for our life just as much as it can shut church doors. What seems unthinkable, becomes a reality.
God was never meant to be a part of our life. He intended to become our whole world, heart and soul. It is then that we are reaping the astounding value of our faith and privilege! Anything less is unthinkable.
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