Don't Blame God

Jehoram was the son of Ahab. Ahab was the husband of Jezebel. Jezebel was nasty. When she married Ahab she introduced the Baal cult to Israel. When Ahab died Jehoram became king. The Bible says that he rejected the Baal cult, but “he clung to the sin of Jeroboam (2 Kings 3:3).” He was not a Baalist, but he was idolatrous.

In 2 Kings 3:9-12 Jehoram, along with two other kings, march to war. He chose a dry, arid route on his way to Moab. The Bible says he, “made a circuitous march of seven days.” That’s Hebrew for “he didn’t have his GPS on”, he was marching in circles. As a result there was no water for the army or for the animals. They were going to die. All of the sudden, this idolatrous man who does not believe in God, is a believer. You cannot blame a God you don’t believe in. “Alas! The LORD has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab (2 Kings 3:10).”

When did your “circuitous” march begin? We tend to leave God out of life, make some bad choices, and when we run out of water we wonder why God hates us so much. Isn’t it ironic that our darkest moments make believers out of us? I have always found it curious how many atheists are angry at God. How can you be angry with a God you don’t believe exists? Hmmm. Or, after walking aimlessly with only our questionable character to guide us, when we realize life is going in circles, we want an immediate bail out. The choices we made three, five, seven, ten, maybe twenty years ago have left life arid, dry, and dangerous. Driven by our idols of pleasure we have done nothing but march through time in circles.

God is a God of salvation, but sometimes forgiveness cannot erase consequence. A better course of action is to consult Scripture and God’s will prayerfully before you begin to march. If we are guided by God’s Word we may not find life to be any less difficult, but perhaps it will be less circuitous.

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