Saturday, July 6, 2013

July 6 – 2 Kings 14 & 2 Chronicles 25

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from 2 Kings 9-11. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

What amazes me about people is we really have not changed much over the millineia. Look at today’s reading. Here is King Amaziah, he listen’s to God and does not carry the 100,000 Israelite troops into battle against the Edomites. He trust God in this instance, and God rewards him, he kills 20,000 Edomites, half by the sword and the other half by throwing them off the cliff … by the way, is not the Bible the best adventure book ever written ~ this is what Hollywood movies are made of. God gives him this amazing victory, but in the plunder stage he brings back the Edomite God’s to worship them.

How much are we like Amaziah? God gives us victories in life, but time and time again we are willing to prostitute ourselves out to other modern gods. Sure we are not diving into the Baals and Ashera of the day. But our sins are the same. Do you know what an Ashera poll was? It was carved image of a male penis. Ashera was a god of fertility. People would perform sex acts in order to evoke Ashera to send rain or open wombs. Now we do not worship Ashera, and turn to her for fertility, but how much do we turn to sex in our culture? All the time! Pornography, adultery, sexual promiscuity are just the obvious answers. But what really shows our cravings as a culture for sex is how much we use it to market our goods and wears. Sex sells does it not? So while we might not worship Ashera, the heart of her worship, sex, is still prevalent today. Sadly the church has not been able to abstain from this temptation either.


So how often do we see God bring us victory and then we turn right away from him? Sadly, all the time. Think about your own life and begin to strategize how you can avoid this trap yourself. 

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