Readings for today: 2 Kings 16-17, 2 Chronicles 28
I once heard it said that a human being’s ability to sin is only exceeded by that human’s ability to rationalize away their sin. And thirty years of ministry has provided plenty of evidence to back up that statement. According to Jonathan Haidt, in his book, The Righteous Mind, human beings are more “rationalizing creatures” than they are “rational creatures.” He uses the image of an elephant and a rider to make his point. The elephant represents our intuitive, emotional, reactive mind while the rider represents our conscious, rational, reasoning mind. While the rider appears to be “in control” much of the time, the reality is the elephant decides for itself where it wants to go and there’s really nothing the rider can do about it except justify the course.
Ahaz comes from godly stock. His grandfather, Uzziah, was one of the great kings of Israel and Jotham, his father, reigned well for sixteen years. What caused Ahaz to go astray? Why did Ahaz make the terrible choices he made? Passing his son through the fire? Offering sacrifices and burning incense at the high places? Carving graven images of the Baals? Making an alliance with Assyria? Adopting the worship practices of the Assyrians after a trip to Damascus? Remodeling the Temple according to his own design? The Bible doesn’t tell us but it does offer an indictment of his reign. “He did not do what pleased the Lord his God, in contrast to his ancestor David. He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel.” (2 Kings 16:2b-3a NET) So the Lord handed him over to his enemies. He lost battles to the Syrians, Edomites, and the northern kingdom of Israel. The writer of 2 Chronicles even goes as far as to say, “The Lord humiliated Judah because of King Ahaz…for he encouraged Judah to sin and was very unfaithful to the Lord.” (2 Chronicles 28:19 NET) And it appears the worse things got, the more Ahaz turned away.
I have met people just like Ahaz. No matter how bad things get and no matter how harsh the consequences of the terrible decisions they make, they refuse to repent. They refuse to return to Jesus. They rationalize away their sin by blame-shifting or by claiming they have no choice or that it’s “just the way I am.” And things only get worse. I have seen this dynamic play out in my own life and in the lives of those I love. Thankfully, at some point, most of us hit rock bottom. We come face to face with reality and all our rationalizations coming crashing down around us. It’s there that God meets us. He meets us and, if we will turn to Him, He lifts us out of the pit and miry clay and gives us a new song to sing. The song of salvation.
Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 13-17