2 Kings 21

2 Kings 21 offers us the historical account of the prophetic writing that is occurring within Isaiah.  The account gives the short, but significant tenure of two kings in Judah.  We begin with Manasseh, a king who began his reign at the tender age of 12.  We don't know the gritty details from this passage, but we do know that he reigned for 55 years, and his reign was denounced due to idolatry, and he did what was wicked in the sight of the Lord.  The account of Amon would follow and he would take leadership at the age of 22, and would reign for two years.  In those two years he would depart from the God of his fathers and he lead the people to sin in the land.  This short account may seem like a small blip within the enormous history that is in the people of Israel, but it follows an all too familiar pattern within the history contained in the Old Testament.  That pattern is that Israel fell into worshiping idols, and did what was evil deserving of judgment.

If I want to give you a genuine, authentic, honest reflection of this passage in connection with our current culture I would have to say that we live a world/culture of idols.  So many small (sometimes not so visibly small) things that just totally take up all our affections, time, treasure, and joy that could and should be directed to the Lord.  I'm not talking about gifts and good things that God provides, rather I'm saying things that totally consume us.  Maybe there is something to this.  Maybe the evil that sets us against God isn't necessarily what we view as bad things, it can be things that we view as good.  This is consistent with the origin of evil in the world.  There was a fruit in the garden that was good, among other fruit that was made good, but there was a lies attached to this fruit that was not supposed to be for us.  Eve bought into the necessity of this fruit and saw that its goodness was better to her than the intended fruit she was to enjoy.  Adam took this fruit in the same fashion.  This is the same concept that we do.  We take things that we view as good and we make them objects of worship, and they turn our affections from the Lord.  This is quite a consistent story.  Where do you find satisfaction and what do you put your hope in?  What things in your life are good that you attribute worship to?  This is the essential thing to gain from this passage.  If we forget that the Lord is good, and do not delight in who is through obedience to his will, then we will fall into the worship of other things.  Please fight this!