Betrayed By Actions

They feared the LORD, and served their own gods. 2 Kings 17:33

A quick read through of 2 Kings 17 will reveal the sad state of the nation of Israel. It shows the extent they have gone to ignore God, replace God, and oppose God. And these were His chosen people! As a nation, they had seen His mighty works. They had experienced His deliverance from Egypt, provision in the wilderness, protection from enemies, victories in battle, and personal involvement that no other nation could claim their god had done for them. Each time they rebelled and faced the consequences of their actions, the pain would cause them to cry out to God for deliverance and God would deliver them. What a cycle! They would walk with God for a season, turn to idolatry, be in bondage to another nation, cry out for help, and see deliverance, only to start the cycle all over again.

Then my mind goes to our nation, America! A land that claims to be one nation under God and stamps the motto ‘In God we trust’ on our coins. A land that celebrates Christian holy days, prints Bibles, sends out missionaries to other nations, and practically has a church on every corner. A land that professes to be a Christian nation. But as a nation we seem to be doing the same thing Israel did…..we served our own gods. The god of materialism, god of self, god of humanism. Our actions betray us. The battles to remove religious symbols from state buildings, to take God out of the pledge, to rewrite history, to remove prayer from the schools, and so on merely show what happens when a nation has already removed God from their individual lives.
Then my mind goes to the church as a whole. While we say we fear God our actions once again betray us. God’s call to unity is answered with denominational walls. God’s call to love one another is answered with preferential treatment of some and cold shoulders to others. We pick and choose what we want to obey according to our preferences, standards, and personal taste. And all the while we are fighting among ourselves the world looks on and we wonder why more are not drawn to Christ.

Then I look at my own life and I conclude that any time I choose to sin I too am serving my own god. Someone once said, “You serve the one you love the most.”

God, help our nation! God, help our churches! God, help me! Amen.