Sin: An Insane Thing To Pursue - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Chronicles 21:8,

"In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king."

Here is a simple comment of something that took place during the reign of Jehoram over Judah. Although a simple comment, it is loaded with a truckload of reality.

Not only did Edom rebel against King Jehoram, but Libnah did as well, verse 10. Additionally, the prophet Elijah told Jehoram, "Now the Lord is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow. You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out." Verses 14 and 15. We also read, "The Lord aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites. They attacked Judah, invaded it and carried off all the goods found in the king's palace, together with his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah, the youngest." Verses 16-17.

Why all this difficulty, hardship and devastation that the Lord brought on Jehoram? Although his father and predecessor on the throne, Jehoshaphat, received many blessings from the Lord because he followed the Lord, Jehoram went another way, his own way into sin.

Verses 5 and 6 tell us, "Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord." In verse 10 we read that Jehoram had forsaken the Lord and led the people into idolatry.

When Jehoram ascended the throne in Judah he murdered all of his brothers to protect his reign. From there he just went downhill.

You might think Jehoram would have taken a clue from his father, to follow the Lord, to enjoy the many blessings his father received from the Lord. But, sadly, no. Jehoram turned his back on God to go his own foolish way and reaped the consequences of his sinful foolishness.

Such is sin, the sin that abides in us all. It prompts us to turn our backs on God and to go our own way, as Jehoram did. We may not be kings like he was, but we certainly have that same beckoning call of sin to seek some self-centered illicit satisfaction, or whatever.

How insane it was for Jehoram to see how wonderful things went for Jehoshaphat when Jehoshaphat followed the Lord, and, yet, go a different way!

How insane it would be for us to see how badly it went for Jehoram and follow that same impulse!

Something to think about today...

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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