From generation to generation, things went downhill. We find out that in the southern kingdom, Judah, King Abijam “committed all the sins that his father did before him; his heart was not true to the Lord his God” (I Kings 15:3). Asa was the best of the next few generations: his heart was true, and he ejected the male temple prostitutes and took down the idols, but he did not take away “the high places” – the country shrines to fertility gods (15:9-14).

Meanwhile in Israel, King Nadab was evil (15:26); Baasha assassinated him, made himself king, and killed all of Jeroboam’s surviving relatives (15:27-30), thus fulfilling the prophecy of Ahijah (14:10). Baasha would turn out to be just as evil (15:34), and his son who succeeded him, Elah, was a drunk (16:9). Then Zimri assassinated him, made himself king, and killed all of Baasha’s surviving relatives.

We can see in this mess that all these kings and wannabe kings were all about power: and whatever you had to do to get it was what you did. When we have set ourselves up in opposition to God, we see ourselves as the ruler, and expect to be in charge, over the nation, or at least over our own small fiefdom. Just as all these kings discovered, pushing to put ourselves in charge usually doesn’t work out as well as we anticipated.

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When we allow ourselves to drift from you, O Lord, we get so trapped in wanting our own way. We imagine that by setting aside your commandments we will find freedom for ourselves, but we become ever more enslaved to our own sins, and it all gets more and more destructive. Give us hearts that long to serve you, instead of longing to boss others around.

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