Good morning friends, I hope you have had a good week. It’s good to be back with another newsletter this week!
At some point during last year, I decided to read through the Old Testament. My goal has not to rush through it in a specific amount of time, but rather to deepen my understanding of the message of the Bible. It definitely has given me a lot more context into the meaning of Jesus’ work. It has also been teaching me so much about God’s character as well as the ways of the Israelites and their unfaithful human nature.
I can’t help but notice my own behaviour in the stories told of their’s. Today I want to share with you one of the patterns I noticed while reading 2 Kings and encourage you to use it as a lens to evaluate your own life as we strive to live more intentionally for God.
Before I jump in, if you would like to get more context to what is happening at this point in the Isrealite’s story, 2 Kings: 7-23 gives a good summary.
Some of the important points to note for this newsletter is that:
God’s people have split up into the kingdom of Isreal and the Kingdom of Judah after King Solomon’s reign.
Israel immediately fell into worshipping idols and this soon permeated Judah too.
Some of Judah’s kings walk in the ways of the Lord and others completely disregard Him.
One of the ways this idolatry poisoned the land was through Asherah poles - wooden poles representing a Caananite goddess - and the use of “high places” - elevated land used to sacrifice and worship idols.
So now that we have some context we can get into this newsletter!
As I was reading through 2 Kings I noticed a pattern that, despite the works God would do for His people and even with the reign of some godly kings, these idols were never fully removed.
4 Then Jehoahaz [Israel’s king] sought the Lord’s favor, and the Lord listened to him, for he saw how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel. 5 The Lord provided a deliverer for Israel, and they escaped from the power of Aram. So the Israelites lived in their own homes as they had before. 6 But they did not turn away from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit; they continued in them. Also, the Asherah pole[a] remained standing in Samaria.
3 [Judah’s king Amaziah] did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not as his father David had done. In everything he followed the example of his father Joash. 4 The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.
When I read this, I thought wow, it’s like they have grown so familiar with these idols that they’re not even aware of them anymore.
This led me to ask myself, what if I have idols that have been around so long I’m not aware of them either?
Who perceives his unintentional sins?
Cleanse me from my hidden faults.
In the time of 2 Kings, there were physical pillars that littered the land of Israel and Judah that the people had become so used to that they basically didn’t see what was wrong with them anymore. If they could see these idols with fresh eyes how appalled would they have been to recognise that they were allowed into the land of the Lord in the first place?
I think often it is the same with us. If we took a step back and looked at our lives from an objective view and through the lens of God’s word, we would be taken aback as we see the idols and sins that linger unnoticed in our lives.
Part of the reason this happens is because we are creatures of habit. The point of habits is to reserve our brain’s energy for other tasks. It is a way that our brain’s go on autopilot and just runs the system as it knows how to1. While this can be a good thing, it can cause us to get stuck in sins without even noticing it.
So what can we do about it?
I think one of the most powerful things we can do is to pray to God to reveal our sins to us. Psalm 19:12 (mentioned earlier) is a great verse we can pray as we ask God to reveal our unintentional sins as well as Psalm 51:10-12.
In addition, spend some time reflecting on your life and behaviour and notice the patterns and habits that run your days. Notice what you spend your time on, the thoughts that come pass through your mind.
Reading the Bible is also a great strategy to reveal the areas where you fall short. The new testament gives us many notes on how to live and Jesus gave us a perfect example. As we spend time learning about what the Bible calls us to, we will notice the things we do and don’t do which will allow us to repent and bring them before God with a desire to change.
Here is a really cool article about habits and our brains to read further: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6701929/
I pray this newsletter encourages you and gives you a new perspective on how you can be more intentional with your life.
Please give this post a like if you found it useful and we’ll chat again soon,
Cailyn xx
