2 Kings Chapter 24
As we plummet to the final days of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, we sadly still read the same words over and over again … “he did evil in the sight of the Lord”. The last king of Judah, Zedekiah, did the same things as his predecessor
If we were to refer to 2 Chronicles expansion of the same incident, you will note an interesting additional point:
12 He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord.
~ 2 Chronicles 36:12
Zedekiah did not just do evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not humble himself too.
God had repeatedly sent His prophets to the kings to warn them and tell them to repent. And after reading through both books of Kings, we would have known that many of the kings just refused to listen.
“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted”. These are the very familiar words of Jesus in Matthew 23:12.
Would something good or better have happened had the king decide to humble himself to hear the words of the prophet?
Troubles and adversities will come in our lives. And we must understand that sometimes, these happen because God allows it so that we can be refined and also, maybe, learn the lesson for the need of humility.
We are so used to depending on ourselves and our abilities to get out of any trouble that we forget that we should actually come before God with our knees to seek His guidance and will.
I read a book where someone said this:
“Trouble, pressure, struggle reveals what’s really in our hearts. Some respond to it by raising their faces to heaven and becoming bitter, while others bow their knees before God and become better.”
Truly, God accepts the humble heart.
In the previous chapters, we have seen the examples of two of the worst kings – Ahab and Manasseh. Their whole lives were spent doing evil in the sight of the Lord – they idol worshipped, they were proud and arrogant – causing the prophets of God many problems.
But towards their end, we read this about Ahab:
27 So it was, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about mourning.
28 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29 “See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. In the days of his son I will bring the calamity on his house.”
~ 1 Kings 21:27–29 ~
For Manasseh, we need to read 2 Chron. 33:12–13:
12 Now when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
In both cases, God heard the cries of the kings because they humbled themselves before the Lord.
Now as we start the new year, let us consider our ways as well.
Do we want to continue to pursue our lives in our own arrogant way knowing God but not respecting His ways? Or do we want to humble ourselves before Him and truly live lives where God is the first in our lives?
May we all have a blessed New Year!