The Highlighter [2 Kings 5 - 2 Kings 23]

I missed 2 days this week. So forgive me for being a bit behind. But here is what God has blessed me with this week:

2 Kings 5:15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel..."

Here, really it is the order of events that particularly jumps out at me. I've always thought it was cool that in order to be healed he had to humble himself. In typical fashion, I'm getting of the subject of this verse a little bit, but I've always been fascinated how much spiritual growth occurs simply by humbling ourselves. When we acknowledge how big God is then we see a huge need for him in our lives.

2 Kings 17:7-8 All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduces.

I can't remember who originated this statement, but there is a quote out there that says "You can either live for God or die for yourself." The LORD judged the people of Israel because they copied the surrounding nations and worshiped other gods and welcomed pagan customs. God has never given us a reason not to trust him, yet we often turn out back on him. So here, we see exactly why Israel was exiled, because of their sin.

2 Kings 17:15 ...They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless...

I love this description of what happens when we follow other Gods in our life. We become worthless. The other idols that we chase are worthless, and we become worthless too. This one verse can preach many sermons.

2 Kings 17:18 ...removed them from his presence...

Wow, powerful.

2 Kings 17:37 You must always be careful to keep the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands he wrote for you.

Just a friendly reminder that we could all use everyday :-)

2 Kings 17:41 Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols.

One of the most powerful lessons I have taught to this day combined this verse with "no one can serve to masters". While this verse may seem kind of weird at first, we do it all the time. We claim to follow God with all of our heart yet we also have our secret sins and addictions. We must give the LORD 100% of our life.

2 Kings 19:19 Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.

I love Hezekiah, he's one of my favorite Old Testament characters. His prayer is also a great and powerful prayer. A good one to mark! I won't go into the many reasons why, but trust me that if you read it you will be blessed.



God Bless!