Category Archives: 2 Chronicles

Do you ever want to scream because life is so unfair?

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The ScreamThis little story really rattles my cage. What do you think??

“Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign. … He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. … The Lord afflicted Azariah with leprosy until the day he died, and he lived in a separate house.” (2 Kings 15:1-5 NIV)

What?! This man obeyed God, was a good king and yet it specifically says the Lord gave him leprosy – the most dreaded disease of that day. That stinks.

Where is the justice in that? How can God do such a thing to a man who is walking in obedience? It would be one thing if it said God “allowed” it but it clearly says God caused it. Can we even trust God to be just when He does stuff like this to a good king who is faithfully serving Him? Continue reading →

God made him sick

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SickThis little story really rattles my cage. What do you think??

“Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign. … He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. … The Lord afflicted Azariah with leprosy until the day he died, and he lived in a separate house.” (2 Kings 15:1-5 NIV)

What?! This man obeyed God, was a good king and yet the Lord afflicted him with leprosy – the most dreaded disease of that day. Note it specifically says the Lord gave him this affliction. Sorry if that rattles your theological cage. I don’t like the idea either but it plainly says God did this.

So where is the justice in this? How can God do such a thing to a man who is walking in obedience? It would be one thing if it said God “allowed” it but it clearly says God caused it. Can we even trust God to be just when He does stuff like this to a good king who is faithfully serving Him?

I have found when I have questions about Scripture the best commentary on Scripture is the Scripture itself. Often, the answer to hard questions is found within the pages of the Bible if I will just diligently search it out. And that is the case here. Continue reading →

We want to be like other nations.

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herdGod wanted His people to be exceptional, different from all other nations on earth. They were to be “a shining light on a hill”, a people through which He could demonstrate His goodness, kindness and power to the nations. These people would be so blessed by the Lord that all nations would want to serve the same God they served.

But Israel turned from the Lord and began to exclude God from their daily lives. They occupied themselves with other “gods” which brought the judgment of the Lord – God’s attempt to let them suffer the consequences of their foolishness in hopes they would return to Him. Rather than repent and return to their original calling as a unique people pointing the nations to God, they chose to slither downward and mimic the other nations.

“We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles. (1 Samuel 8:19, 20)

We are tired of God being our king. We want a man we can look to – an impressive leader who will take care of us and make our lives easy.

They could see the failure of the “gods” and the methods of the other nations. They knew Jehovah routinely defeated the “gods” of the other nations when Israel was faithful. Yet, they wanted to exalt and follow a man instead of leading the nations. Continue reading →