October 23, 2023

Fear God over man

2 Kings 1

Pam Rittenberry
Monday's Devo

October 23, 2023

Monday's Devo

October 23, 2023

Monday's Devo

October 23, 2023

Monday's Devo

October 23, 2023

Big Idea

Forgetting God's Word is the first step away from faithfulness.

Key Verse | 2 Kings 1:10

But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

2 Kings 1

Elijah Denounces Ahaziah

1 After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.

2 Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, “Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness.” 3 But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? 4 Now therefore thus says the LORD, You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” So Elijah went.

5 The messengers returned to the king, and he said to them, “Why have you returned?” 6 And they said to him, “There came a man to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you, and say to him, Thus says the LORD, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” 7 He said to them, “What kind of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?” 8 They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

9 Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty men with his fifty. He went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’” 10 But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

11 Again the king sent to him another captain of fifty men with his fifty. And he answered and said to him, “O man of God, this is the king's order, ‘Come down quickly!’” 12 But Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

13 Again the king sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before Elijah and entreated him, “O man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty servants of yours, be precious in your sight. 14 Behold, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty men with their fifties, but now let my life be precious in your sight.” 15 Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he arose and went down with him to the king 16 and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word?—therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’”

17 So he died according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. Jehoram became king in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, because Ahaziah had no son. 18 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

S2:206 2 Kings 1

Listen Now

Dive Deeper | 2 Kings 1

Let's begin with a moment of transparency. I do not always choose God's best when responding to unexpected happenings. Hesitation or fear can plague my choices (Isaiah 41:10). God is faithful even when I hesitate or think this is all about me (Proverbs 14:12). God wants His perfect love and provision to draw us to seek Him with humility and go forth trusting His provision.

King Ahaziah chose wrongly and did what many people do out of fear that is overwhelming. Ahaziah turned to idols as a result of how he was raised by Ahab and Jezebel, his parents who worshiped idols. Ahaziah was also not completely certain about the God of Israel and His power. He chose to actively defy the God of Israel by seeking to force Elijah to rescind his prophecy of Ahaziah's death from the injuries he suffered from a fall. Ahaziah desired to have his own way even in the distress of his injury.

His pride and arrogance prompted him to send two of his captains and one hundred men on two separate trips to their deaths by God's consuming fire. Only the third captain and his fifty men, who came to Elijah in humility, were not destroyed. But it still did not change the prophesied outcome that Ahaziah would surely die (2 Kings 1:1-17).

God desires us to choose and trust Him as He directs a pathway we do not always see clearly (Romans 12:2). The outcome will glorify Him when we choose to trust. It is my daily prayer ahead of the unexpected that God would guide my hesitant heart. We can quickly forget that He gave us out of His great love and mercy THE most important choice—whether to follow Christ, the One whom He sent for our salvation. We have this choice freely available to us. I encourage you to consider the choice that seals you in Him eternally by receiving His gift of salvation through Jesus Christ's sacrificial death on the cross and resurrection. When we do, His resurrected life enables our ongoing sanctification as we choose to glorify Him through our daily decisions.

This month's memory verse

5  Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
6  In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths.
 

– Proverbs 3:5-6

Discussion Questions

1. Have you made the most important choice God gives us—to accept Christ's sacrifice on the cross, death, and resurrection to life (John 14:6)?  If not, whom can you ask to explain this amazing gift from God?

2. How can you grow in your sense of urgency to make daily choices that honor the Lord and reflect a heart of gratitude for His grace provisions in your life? Would a daily prayer for the "eyes of your heart" (Ephesians 1:18) to see what God draws you into each hour change the way you understand those choices?.

3: Ahaziah did not honor the God of Israel partly because of what his parents modeled for him. But God and Elijah gave him opportunities to think and act differently from the way he was raised (Joshua 24:15). Which is more attractive to you: God's desires for His children, the familiar feeling of the traditions in which you were raised, or what the world thinks about your choices? (Proverbs 16:9)

As we gear up to release even more features for Join The Journey in 2025, our staff team, unfortunately, no longer has the margin to continue to support the comment functionality. We have big things in store for Join The Journey 2025. Stay tuned!

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Hugh Stephenson

Oh my. My wonderful sister in Christ is blessing us immensely with her devo today. Thank you, Pam, for the amazing breadth and depth of ways you love all our sister and brothers. The love of Christ shines through you in brilliant light. What a joy it is to open today’s Journey entry and see such a favored one walking us through the opening of 2 Kings. Who knew that a solder of Ahab could serve us and be an example to us- “Only the third captain and his fifty men, who came to Elijah in humility, were not destroyed.” I love this take-a-way you give us : God desires us to choose and trust Him as He directs a pathway we do not always see clearly (Romans 12:2). The outcome will glorify Him when we choose to trust. Romans 12:2 seems like a perfect response, “be transformed”. Steps of choose-trust-and surrender seem like a great summary of the process. Awesome devo Pam. What a blessing. Q1. Choose to trust? How important this is!! Even in the dead-church-box-checking days of my young adult life God showed me how important the dichotomy of choice is. I wanted it both ways. To me God and His Word was a buffet- take the desserts and leave the vegetables. Only when I came to the end of myself did I realize there was no nutritional value in the spiritual junk food I was consuming. Q2. Grow in urgency? In recent weeks God has brought me to yet another fork in the road. He has put urgency into my heart and mind to show me that I still have a heart that is too divided. I love your pull from Ephesians. Adding that to Psalms 51 and 139 that the LORD has given me to begin this new part of my journey. He’ll Q3. God desires? Traditions? The world’s view of my choices? I link to Daniel 5:27. This is the verse about the “handwriting on the wall” - “…you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting…”. This is chilling. I am blessed by the conviction of the Holy Spirt that showed me how I have been “weighed” and called me to a new life in Christ, (2 Corinthians 5:17).
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Hugh Stephenson

I love the stories of the faithfulness of God. There are so many in book after book. In reading through the notes on 2 Kings I loved how Dr. Constable gave some great summaries of this chapter, the whole book of 2 Kings, and 1 &2 Kings combined. (Click this link and scroll down to “Message” https://www.planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/html/ot/2kings/2kings.htm ) “[2 Kings] opens with the translation of godly Elijah to heaven and closes with the transportation of the ungodly Jews to Babylon. “ “I would summarize the message of 2 Kings, therefore, as follows: -Though people fail God, God will not fail people. This is foundational to the doctrine of eternal security, which the New Testament expounds more fully.” In both [1 and 2 Kings], the two thrones are in view: the earthly and the heavenly First Kings emphasizes the facts of these thrones. The earthly throne consistently failed, but the heavenly throne consistently prevailed. Second Kings emphasizes the consequences that result from each of these situations. Its major value is its revelation of the failure of people and the victory of God.” In a class awhile back at the pastor noted the importance of understanding and internalizing the faithfulness of God and the faithlessness of us. This struck me as counter message to our culture of self-aggrandizement. It has been part of my journey to answer the three big questions I talk about as the focus of my journey- Who is God? Who am I? Why am I here?
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Hugh Stephenson

Constable’s notes posit that the people had a tragically wrong understanding of who God is- “The reason the nations failed was that the people lost their vision of Yahweh.” I haven’t heard this expressed quite this way but it really resonates for me. He elaborates- “We can see this quite clearly in the attitudes and actions of the kings. Most of the kings were evil because they had no vision of the throne in heaven: They did not appreciate their position under God. A few of them were good, but even these fell short of the standard of devotion to God that David had set. Some of them conducted reforms, but none of them removed the places of pagan worship in the land (the "high places"). Essentially, they conducted state business with little concern for God. Idolatry and foreign alliances are the evidence that the people lacked a vision of God. Another evidence of this is the people's inability to perceive their national setbacks as divine discipline. The prophets were constantly trying to help the people see this.” Then he moves from the failure of the people to the victory of God “Notice too in this book the revelation concerning the victory of God. There is much evidence of this as well.” “The reason for God's victory is traceable to His promise, with an oath, to bless Abraham's descendants (Gen. 22:16- 18). He will allow nothing to keep Him from fulfilling that promise. His covenant with Abraham underlies all of His dealings with the Israelites that this book documents. The Davidic Covenant grew out of the Abrahamic Covenant. God's covenants rested on His love.” All of the above quotations come from TCs notes in the intro to 2 Kings.
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Michael Sisson

Re: 2Kgs 1:6 2Kgs 1:6 (NASB) They said to him, “A man came up to meet us and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you and say to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of >>>Baal-zebub<<<, the god of Ekron? Therefore *you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.’ ””’ ALL things ultimately derive the identity from Christ (See Col 1:16-17). Even Satan’s identity is a reflection of his rejection of G-d and His Messiah. In this verse, because the worm, or maggot, is a type of the Despised Messiah (Jesus; see Ps 22:6), then it logically follows that the "Lord of the Flies"(Baal-zebub) would be a reflection and embodiment of Israel despising G-d and seeking the council of foreign gods.
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Greg Jones

I appreciate how Isiah 41:10 was worked into the deeper dive this morning. Since the books of Kings end at the exile into Babylon most scholars assume it was written during the exile using the sources it mentions for its references. Things I like Fire consuming fifty men are an explanation to what happens when you fail Yahweh. It would be an explanation to why God’s people have found themselves in exile abandoned by their God. The first section of Isaiah ends at chapter 39 with Isaiah’s prophesy to Hezekiah that Israel would be exiled to Babylon. Isaiah 40-50 is centered around the return from exile in Babylon and and begins to explain what God’s great purpose must be in bringing his people back into the land. In Kings fire coming down from heaven and consuming fifty men was meant to save others from something that would cause exile and abandonment. Joshua 24:15a and the verses surrounding it have a similar warning theme also. A few verses after Isaiah 41:10 there is Tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; do good, or do harm, that we may be dismayed and terrified. Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you. Isaiah 41:23-24 That, along with words like 41:10 are new words being spoken to a new generation. They don’t replace the words in 2 Kings but they begin a larger OT scripture narrative of God’s large plan being greater than just saving his people Israel.
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Sue Bohlin

Thanks so much, Pam. The stories of the faithless kings keep making me wince. But these stories of hard-heartedness are so very instructive in how NOT to live! I am struck by Ahaziah's ugly stubbornness in rejecting Elijah's prophecy against him, and horrified by how he was willing to sacrifice 153 men to try and get his godless, self-centered way. It's amazing, the hubris of thinking that he could pressure Yahweh's prophet into changing his prophecy just because he was the king. The king of Israel vs. The King Of The Universe. And he thought he had a chance! Unbelief and pride must be heartbreaking to God. No wonder faithfulness and trust are so important and valuable (and reward-worthy) of Him!
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Amy Lowther

1. Yes. 2. I would try to mention God, Jesus, the Bible, or church in general conversation. Then, I would work the conversation in these areas if it seemed people were interested in discussing them. It would help everyone be stronger instead of possibly being scared somebody might say they are wrong. Prayer would also be a helpful tool. 3. I would choose God’s desires for his children and share it as appropriate because family traditions can benefit from God’s desires and the world’s thinking can too.
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Jason Cromwell

It reminds me of the old story many Pastors love to tell. A newlywed husband came home to find his wife trimming the sides off of a Roast Beef. He asked her, "Why are you trimming the sides off of the roast beef?" She responds, "That's the way my mother did it." Intrigued by this the young groom called his mother-in-law, and asked her the same question. To his shock of the husband the mother-in-law answered the same as her daughter. So further intrigued he called his wife's grandmother and yet again the grandmother responded the same way. So finally the husband called his wife's great-grandmother and she responded, "That's the way my mother did it, but she had to because in her day pans were a great deal smaller than they are today and could hold less meat. I guess I just followed her and never changed anything."