The High Places

I continue to read in 2 Kings and phew!! You really need to be awake to keep track of all of those people whose names begin with Jeho_____. Some are men and some are women, some are from Judah and some are from Israel. It can get a bit confusing keeping families and kingdoms straight. Well I digress.

In reading these kingdom accounts, I keep thinking about the high places. Many times in these descriptions it is said, “…and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.” But every now again you come across a king who “did right in the eyes of the Lord, but…he did not remove the high places.”

The high places…what are they? Well in going through the Bible with National Community Church blog site, I learned that not only are the high places used for the idol worshippers to sacrifice and worship their gods but they also were used by the early kings and prophets of God (Samuel) to sacrifice to the Lord before the temple was built. God commanded that the high places of the idols be destroyed and no sacrifices to or worship of Him be done where idols had been worshipped. Apparently there is still debate as to whether worshipping and sacrificing to God on the high places was “ok” prior to the completion of the Temple, since there was no central location to do this in. Needless to say, they existed for various reasons and became a means to cause the people of God to stumble and fall into idol worship. (Commentary from The NIV Study Bible, Zondervan Publishing House: 1995.)

So how do the high places fit into my life…your life? Obviously we are not having idol worship and sacrifices occurring in our cities and towns. However, are we keeping little stashes of things that get in the way of our time with God and maybe keep us from hearing Him or doing things for Him and His people in the best way we can?

High places give you the impression that they’re not that close, they don’t get visited very often, they’re so far away many people don’t see them or even know about them but they are always there and I know about them, you know about them. The knowledge of them and the frequent or infrequent visits to those high places still affect our relationship with Christ. “How?” you might ask, by keeping us from giving God our whole heart. Several passages in the Old and New Testament say we are to love God with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul and with all our strength.

Are there things in your life that keep you from giving all of yourself and all of your efforts to God? Do you want the commentary on your life to read, “Joe/Joelle did what was right in the eyes of the Lord but did not remove the high places”?

Incomprehensible Mercy

I have not been able to stop thinking about the incredible mercy God shows us when we humble ourselves before Him. Just recently I have been reading in 1 and 2 Kings and hearing of all the kings of Israel and Judah and how most of them did evil in the eyes of the Lord. There was, however, one king who is described as no other king. This is king Ahab. This is how the Bible begins its description of king Ahab in 1 Kings 16:30 “Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him.” Later in the description of Ahab’s reign, he is further described in this way – 1 Kings 21:25-26 “There was never a man like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the Lord drove out before Israel.”

In the chapters describing Ahab’s reign we hear of his cowardice as he freely sends his wives, children and silver to the king of Aram instead of fighting the king or asking God for help; his treachery as he hunts down the prophets of God; his whinny and insatiable greed as he pursues the vineyard of a fellow Israelite whom he has killed because he would not surrender his God given land; and his betrayal of God as he worships the idols of the land. This name and this king is always remembered and spoken of in terms of the evil that was done to the people and against God, yet he was shown mercy!

After Ahab whines to Jezebel, one of his wives, about how Naboth refused to give Ahab his vineyard. She contrives a way to have Naboth killed so Ahab can confiscate the lands and have the vineyard he so greatly wants. After the plan is played out and Naboth is killed the prophet Elijah comes to Ahab on the Lord’s behalf and pronounces a terrible judgment on Ahab, Jezebel and his descendents.

“When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: ‘Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humble himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day’…” 1 Kings 21:27-29

This is amazing to me! Ahab didn’t change his ways but he humbled himself before God and God was merciful.

Humility before God even after we do the most vile thing is accepted by God and honored. His mercy is endless and incomprehensible. Don’t ever forget this! Shame over our sin would lead us to believe that we can never go back to God but here we see that a man described as the most evil of kings could humble himself and receive mercy. It is no different for us. The Bible describes God as the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The mercy shown Ahab thousands of years ago is also available to us TODAY.

If you have sinned against God, do not get caught up in shame and lies, humble yourself before Him, repent and be restored.

Another good reference is Psalm 51.