Let’s read II Kings 18:11 out loud together?
II Kings 18:11 The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the city of the Medes,
So the whole northern kingdom has gone now. Taken captive and then forcibly dispersed across several regions, hundreds if not thousands of miles from home. This was the consequence of their decisions to go their own way over a number of years, despite the many prophets God sent with warnings and corrections.
What does and does this not mean for us today?
Well, there is no doubt in my mind that if we continually hear from God and do not act on his guidance, but deliberately act in other ways, then we will find ourselves out of position in areas of our lives. We may miss opportunities, lack peace, and find ourselves in a company that does not bring the best out of us for example.
What we should be careful to understand today though, is that God does not “punish” us for things where we have stuffed up. I often have heard people say “this must be my punishment for……..” and they relate their particular difficulty with some action they previously took.
That is our human thinking though, that’s not God’s nature or character.
In the New Testament Romans 1:24, we are taught that “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonouring of their bodies among themselves,”
So actually God’s reaction to our continued sin is that he allows us to go as far down that road as we want. He allows our hearts to become consumed with what we lust after. He honours our free will.
That’s a sobering thought………..
In some ways, we maybe do see a parallel in II Kings 18, as the people of Israel had been determined to worship and serve foreign gods, and now here they are living much closer to their foreign gods amongst populations that served those gods and lived by those values. Were they getting their heart’s desire?
Let’s all agree today to stay soft-hearted before God, open to his teaching, correction, and discipline so that our hearts may be safe in his presence each day?
Principle 15 – stay soft-hearted before God each day.
Strength – Empathy: People exceptionally talented in the Empathy theme can sense other p[eople’s feelings by imagining themselves in others’ lives situations.