Costly Forgetfulness

2 Chronicles 11-15

Even though I've read the stories over and over... and even though I am so forgetful... it still amazes (and scares) me how much the people of Israel forget the lessons of those who came before. It's a pretty simple formula... when they seek after God and obey his commands good things happen... and when they seek after other gods and disobey God's commands, bad things happen. So we see this cycle where they seek after God and they are blessed and they grow comfortable in their blessings and start worshiping other gods, and bad things happen and they come to their senses and turn back to God... over and over again.

Makes you wonder about us. Did everyone in Israel turn away from God or only the majority? Are we "safe" because we haven't turned away, or are we lumped in with the rest of the nation who have so turned away from God that they question his existence or worse they question his continued relevance? I doubt we can count on being safe. By all accounts it certainly looks like our country has felt the blessings of God and reckoned that those blessings didn't actually come from God, but came because we deserved them, so we have abandoned God and he will not be mocked. Father God forgive us our trespasses.