Week 24
1 Kings 7-22 and Ephesians 1-6
This week we see lots of fighting, like A. LOT. Granted it’s over a period of ???? but we see a continuous change in the rulers of both Israel & Judah, often flip flopping between rulers that followed God to rulers that disobey God and follow idols. First of all- COME ON PEOPLE!! They just really aren’t learning their lesson (but then again, is that any different from us and the world today? 😬)
But my main takeaway here is- what in the world did the people of Israel and Judah think or do during all this time? Yes their leader keeps changing, so I’m assuming the officials and other positions of authority are also changing based on the current king BUT their religion seems to also change with each leadership regime change. One will worship the Lord and build alters to the Lord. The next will build alters to various idols & asheer poles. I don’t know about y’all but that seems super confusing!! The whole offerings thing was already a lot for me to digest- which animals are to be sacrificed for which purposed and how/ when are they to be presented to the Lord but add into that additional sacrifices and additional religious customs of these idols and other “gods”. And that’s not even to mention what do you teach your kids?! In our house teaching my kids about Jesus is one of our top priorities. He goes to church, he has the little nursery/ preschool Bibles and Bible story books- but even that is not easy. He doesn’t question the validity of the Bible stories or anything but I struggle to explain why the Easter bunny isn’t the real reason we celebrate Easter to a 3 year old without (a) going over his head or (b) exploring the too dark side of a story that centers around death, something my 3 year old does not know about, much less understand. So how much harder was it in these days- parents are trying to figure out the “right god” to worship and the right rules to follow in their ever changing environment, all while worried about their father, husband, sons, etc getting called off to war and killed in battle at any given time. Whew- I’m exhausted just thinking about it.
But let’s slow down for just a sec- is it really any different now? Politicians are constantly fighting- maybe not in chariots and to the death like the kings back then, but more through the media, on social media, refusing to support each other’s ideas and proposals with votes so the political party “in charge” changes every few years, and with that the nation’s agenda changes, the allowable/ acceptable practices- abortion, guns, marijuana, etc change. We may not have to worry about battles and wars the same way they did back then, but I still worry about my family and their safety constantly, just in slightly different ways. And the politicians may not get to specifically build altars and dictate a religion but they do often distort the values, principles, and ideals, we try to instill in our children. So are today’s time that much different? In ways, of course they are! But in other ways- not really!!
So what are we to do? Can we make the difficulties just go away? Can we make things easier? No, we can’t make the politicians get along and make everyone just agree to do the right thing, but we can wholeheartedly rely on God. Continuously praying for guidance- how to juggle all the things on our plate, to dissipate the fears and worries we have, to teach our children the ways of our Lord, and even for guidance and peace for the rulers in charge, whether that is the local mayor, commissioners, or the bigger politicians in DC.
Really just so thankful we don’t have to navigate this crazy world alone.
What about you? New takeaways for you? Did you get lost in the never ending list of kings and battles? Did you wonder about the book of annals of the kings- where’s that, how big is that book, who wrote that??