22 Kings 17:41 a (NIV) Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. Don't we all do this? We don't want to. It isn't our goal. But we all do it sometime or another. I have a friend who bought a new vehicle. Every day for what seemed like months and months, this friend washed this new vehicle. Every single day. At one point the friend made a comment about "having" to wash it. I said, "you don't have to wash it." The response was about it being a new vehicle.   To me, that is serving an idol. Now, I am not saying there is anything wrong with washing your car.  But it seems like the car owns the owner if it demands to be washed!  If you HAVE to wash it, you are not in charge. The car is. I think we look at the idols in the Old Testament and think of wooden carved pieces, or golden calves, and somehow become trapped into thinking those are the only things that are idols.  We think it is silly praying to an Asherah p...

2 Chronicles 26:16a : But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God,... Someone once made the comment to me that he believed that all sin originates in pride. I have spent a lot of time thinking about this and believe it to be very nearly true. I actually haven't thought of anything that didn't have an origin in pride if you look deep enough. For example, if you choose not to try something, you might be fearful of failure. Fear of failure is really fear of damaging your pride, isn't it?  Not taking a risk might be due to a fear of failure - which is back to pride. see link for video I've seen people on street corners, holding up worn Bibles, quoting verses from it, looking rather worn themselves. I used to think how embarrassing for them. Somehow in their spiritual journey, they have abandoned their pride for the sake of scripture, for the sake of The Word, Jesus who is the Word - See John 1 :1-2 "In t...

2 Chronicles 20:12a (NIV)  O our God, will you not judge them?  2 Chronicles 20:12a (ESV) O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? I looked up the word "judge".  In dictionary.com the definition includes the meaning from the Hebrew Old Testament, where judge means to govern or rule or law when used as a noun.  So if we use this meaning when reading the NIV version, it reads, "will you not govern or rule them?" Jehoshaphat asks God to govern or rule their enemies.  But I wonder if that is what he is asking.  That certainly isn't what I think of when I read it.  I have the impression that Jehoshaphat is asking God to eliminate his enemies or cause them to fail, not just govern them. I then looked up "judge" to see the places it was used in the Bible and other translations of the same original word. I used the Strong's Lexicon as I did in other blog posts. There are 116 original words that were sometimes translated into the word Judge....

King Asa's story is told in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles.  He was one of the "good" kings because he did follow and obey God at least more than many others.  One item that I found interesting about his story is that he took the title of Queen Mother away from his grandmother, Maacah, because she made "a repulsive Asherah pole". 1 Kings 15:13 and 2 Chronicles 15:16 say almost the same thing: "K in g Asa also deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole. Asa cut the pole down, broke it up and burned it in the Kidron Valley." This story is an indication what is expected of us. We are to do what is right  - in the sight of the Lord - even if it gets us in trouble with our family, even a beloved grandmother. I don't see anything in the Bible that says that King Asa loved his grandmother. I am reflecting my experience into this story.  I LOVED my grandma.  To depose or oppose her would ha...