Good Morning “Surprised By Gods Mercy and Grace.” Today we are in 2 Kings 14.
2 Kings 14 can be hard to follow with the same and similar names. Let me attempt to simply break it down. This chapter tells us about the reigns of Joash of Judah, Joash of Israel, Amaziah of Judah, and Jerobaom II of Israel. Judah was nearly decimated, well at least weakened - when Amaziah declared war on Israel and was defeated by Joash of Israel. Joash’s son, Jeroboam II, led the nation of Israel for more than 40 years, and reclaimed much of the land Israel had lost to enemies in previous years.
What may be surprising in this text is the blessing of Israel in the midst of still evil kings. What gives? We may wonder why God is not bringing swift justice to Israel and its Kings as He has done previously. The Lord is patient and slow to anger - compassionate for His people (Psalm 103:8).
“The Lord had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering; there was no one to help them. And since the Lord had not said he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash.” 2 Kings 14:26-27 NIV
We’ve discussed Gods ability to accomplish His purpose through evil men and sinful people and noted the fact that sinful man is all He has to work with because we all sin. We are in fact declared righteous through Christ but often fall short of acting like it.
We can’t help but look at this story, even those in our world, our lives that are CLEARLY sinful, and wonder - “God, why do you bless them?” Perhaps the root is really more about “Why aren’t you blessing me? I mean I’m serving you, doing all I can do to be a better person, why aren’t you blessing me but instead blessing the gross sinner?” We must be very careful for “We all sin and fall short of Gods Glory.” Romans 3:23
There is none righteous, no one seeks after God apart from The Holy Spirit in them (Romans 3:10-12). We haven’t “earned” anything but death and eternal suffering. Anything other than that is a gift of His Grace. (Romans 6:23) So… we ARE indeed blessed! We have Jesus, and forgiveness of Our sins through His Blood - and there is no greater demonstration of mercy and grace! No greater blessing.
He can do with His Creation whatever He chooses and is perfectly justified to do so (Ephesians 2:8-10).
We must be careful as we demand justice for others for we also deserve justice ourselves. “Im rubber, your glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.” (NOT Scripture by the way!). Aren’t we thankful it doesn’t always work that way.
Love you all! Dig in!
2 Kings 14 can be hard to follow with the same and similar names. Let me attempt to simply break it down. This chapter tells us about the reigns of Joash of Judah, Joash of Israel, Amaziah of Judah, and Jerobaom II of Israel. Judah was nearly decimated, well at least weakened - when Amaziah declared war on Israel and was defeated by Joash of Israel. Joash’s son, Jeroboam II, led the nation of Israel for more than 40 years, and reclaimed much of the land Israel had lost to enemies in previous years.
What may be surprising in this text is the blessing of Israel in the midst of still evil kings. What gives? We may wonder why God is not bringing swift justice to Israel and its Kings as He has done previously. The Lord is patient and slow to anger - compassionate for His people (Psalm 103:8).
“The Lord had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering; there was no one to help them. And since the Lord had not said he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash.” 2 Kings 14:26-27 NIV
We’ve discussed Gods ability to accomplish His purpose through evil men and sinful people and noted the fact that sinful man is all He has to work with because we all sin. We are in fact declared righteous through Christ but often fall short of acting like it.
We can’t help but look at this story, even those in our world, our lives that are CLEARLY sinful, and wonder - “God, why do you bless them?” Perhaps the root is really more about “Why aren’t you blessing me? I mean I’m serving you, doing all I can do to be a better person, why aren’t you blessing me but instead blessing the gross sinner?” We must be very careful for “We all sin and fall short of Gods Glory.” Romans 3:23
There is none righteous, no one seeks after God apart from The Holy Spirit in them (Romans 3:10-12). We haven’t “earned” anything but death and eternal suffering. Anything other than that is a gift of His Grace. (Romans 6:23) So… we ARE indeed blessed! We have Jesus, and forgiveness of Our sins through His Blood - and there is no greater demonstration of mercy and grace! No greater blessing.
He can do with His Creation whatever He chooses and is perfectly justified to do so (Ephesians 2:8-10).
We must be careful as we demand justice for others for we also deserve justice ourselves. “Im rubber, your glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.” (NOT Scripture by the way!). Aren’t we thankful it doesn’t always work that way.
Love you all! Dig in!
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