Whisper Of God Ministries

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What can make you worthless? The middle section of 2 Kings 17 is about the reason the northern Kingdom was exiled from the land God had given them.  It details why God has the Assyrians conquer the land. 

Israel had King after King who never followed God.  They worshipped idols, made false gods, sacrificed in a way not worthy of God and generally failed miserably at being his people.  The verse that jumps off the page at me though is part of verse 15, “They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.”

 What a condemning remark.  The northern kingdom of

Israel had decided to dedicate themselves to following worthless idols.  In doing so, God pronounced them worthless.  Why?  I believe that the reason they became worthless is that the idols they worshipped were man made.  Isaiah tells us that idols are crafted by man.  There is no life in them.  They are mere objects, made in our own creativity to serve our own needs.  They are simply worthless. We all have idols in our lives.  Some of us worship the idols of our hearts more regularly than others.  God calls us to turn to the only true and living God.  The only God who is powerful and able to do more than we can ever imagine for us as we follow him.  What are the idols of your life – job, money, status, material goods?  Are any of these of any eternal good?  Will any of these save you even when you sell out all your life for them and sacrifice all you have to them?  No, they are eternally worthless.  Only Jesus Christ is worthy to be our God.  He alone is worthy (Rev 5:9).  If you are going to give yourself over to something, please make sure it is worthy of the life and time you give it.  Only Jesus can make that claim.

Mephibosheth  God’s grace to us is often something that we take for granted.  As Christians, we know we are safe in God’s hands.  That comfort can breed complacency and a sense of entitlement.  Often it is helpful to review the great stories of the Bible that speak of God’s amazing gifts that he gives us.  One such story is found in 2 Samuel 9.  I must admit that it is probably my very favorite Old Testament story.  Unfortunately, we can read right through it and never slow down enough to see the truth. As the chapter opens, David is lamenting that he has no one left alive in Saul’s family to whom he can show grace because of his great love for Jonathan, Saul’s son.  As you will remember, David and Jonathan shared a bond with each other that was closer than the love of two brothers.  David had promised Jonathan to take care of him after David became the king; however, Jonathan had been killed in battle, and in the following years Saul’s family and David’s men battled for the kingdom.  All of Saul’s family is eventually wiped out.  As David cries out about this fact, he is told that one son of Jonathan’s is still alive – Mephibosheth.  Mephibosheth was crippled in both feet from early childhood.  He was never viewed as a concern for David’s men because he was crippled and could not fight or run.  When David sends for him, I can only imagine his fear since he knows that David’s men have wiped out all of Saul’s family.  When he arrives in Jerusalem, he comes into David’s presence with great humility.  David reassures him.  Then David does an amazing thing, he tell Mephibosheth that he will restore all of Saul’s lands to him and that he will eat at David’s royal table for the rest of his life.  Wow!  Why does David give this great gift to Mephibosheth?  He does it because of his great love for Jonathan.  Do you see the parallel in our story with God’s gift to you?  Because of God’s great love for his Son, Jesus Christ, we too are invited into the heavenly palace to dine with the King even though we are crippled, indeed dead, in our spirit.  God so loves Christ that he extends his marvelous grace to those who believe in the saving work of the Son.  Mephibosheth knew that he was being given a great gift that he did not deserve.  Have you thought lately about the gift of your own salvation?  Do you truly believe that it is a gift that you do not deserve?  Take some time this week to thank God for the fact that you will dine eternally with the King of kings.

In 1 Kings we have read about the great prophet Elijah.  He struggles against Ahab and his sinful reign.  In the midst of all this, God uses Elijah for many wonderful acts of His power and strength.  In chapter 19, Elijah hears that Jezebel wants to kill him, and he flees to Horeb.  The whole story is one of many truths about God, but I want to concentrate on just one aspect of the story.  God comes to Elijah on Mt.Horeb and asks him why he is there.  Elijah cries out “The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword.  I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”  Elijah is having a pity party for himself.  Even in the presence of the many miraculous works of God, Elijah does not trust God to take care of his life.

  God deals with Elijah in a very graceful way.  Rather than let him wallow in his self-pity, God appears to him.  While Elijah is in what Bunyan has called the Slough of Despond, God reaches down to deal mercifully with his servant.  Elijah truly believes that he is the only person left in the land who believes in God.  God speaks to him with great kindness and yet he gently tells Elijah, “I have reserved seven thousand in Israel – all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal.”  Wow, Elijah thinks he is alone in his trouble and yet God has preserved seven thousand believers just like him.  The application that I want to make from this story is that we so often feel all alone in our situation.  We think that no one else could possibly be dealing with the overwhelming problems that we have.  You think that no one can understand how tough it is for you.  Take from this story these lessons.  God loves you and is in this life with you.  Secondly, there are many other people who are dealing with difficulties in their lives.  In every pew around you in church, there is pain and suffering, struggles and despair, but God is faithful.  He loves you and has surrounded you with a cloud of witnesses to support you, pray with you, and listen to you.  You are not alone in your time of need. In the week ahead, think about those times in your life where you were down and out, where you had a pity party for yourself.  Did you think you were all alone?  My own family has struggled in the past months with my daughter having debilitating headaches.  As I asked people to pray for us, it was amazing how many others knew people who struggled with the same issues.  They could relate to our suffering.  God surrounded us with a cloud of support.  Don’t wallow in self-pity.  Engage with the church.  Find support in other people.  Look beyond yourself.  God ordained fellowship for that very reason.