2 Kings 6:24-7:2
An interesting passage that shows that
clothes do not show the heart of the matter.
Here sits the King of Israel...he
hears women talking about eating their children due to the siege the
city was under. This is heartbreaking and he tore his clothes,
revealing the sackcloth he was wearing underneath. You would
think...wow, what a great king, rending his clothes in repentance and
sorrow and wearing sackcloth as a sign of humility before God.
But we find out that he was not
sincere...
He blamed it all on Elisha. Now Elisha
was the man of God who had called this king and kingdom to repent.
The king tells him that if this is what the Lord does to him, that he
will not listen to Him anymore and will, therefore kill his prophet.
Nice guy.
How do we try to appeal to God? Do we
do all of the right things like rend our clothes due to extreme
sadness, wear the sackcloth of outward humility under them so people
think we are really serious about the trouble they and their people
are in? It is easy to say, “OK, God, here I am, making myself
uncomfortable, showing all of the signs I am supposed to show to show
You that I am upset about what is happening around me, and You are
doing nothing. What more do You want? Am I supposed to wait around
for You to do what You are supposed to do because of what I have
done? I tore my clothes...I wore sackcloth. My people are suffering
and You are a lousy god for not hearing us...so I give up. I won't
listen to you any more, and your prophets are going to be rejected. I
will do to them what I want to do to you. So, here you go, God, DROP
DEAD!”
So here is the deal. If you are not
truly doing your repentance from the heart, don't even try it. You
can't manipulate God. He knows what is going on in your head. He
knows your heart. Nothing you do in the flesh that is done solely as
symbolism is going to sway the arm of God on your behalf. And the
longer you wait for something that is not going to happen, the more
frustrated we get to the point of instead of blaming ourselves or
others who have sinned, or grieving the consequences of sin in the
world, the more likely it is that we will blame God and walk away.
The women eating their kids were not repentant, they were “fair.”
We ate mine, now we should eat hers! No crying out to God in sorrow
that they would even be tempted to think such thoughts, let alone do
such things. There was no repentance on the part of the leader, so
there was no repentance on the part of the people. God knew it and
sent the prophets to call them to repentance. So they did the outward
stuff. They tore clothes. They sat and waited for God to do
something. And they gave up on God and got mad at those who spoke for
Him. But they did not rend their hearts, which is what it takes for
God to act on our behalf. He does want to save, and He did the very
next day, not due to their repentance, but to take out the king who
cursed Him and attempted to murder His voice that sought to correct
him. There are certainly times when we sin and then we wonder where
God went and why He doesn't hear. We read the Bible, give our tithe,
and offer to take a meal or something. But we don't repent. We don't
ask God to show us our faults, to confess our known sin with a broken
heart, and seek to bring ourselves, our families, and our communities
to the conclusion that God may have something against us that we are
refusing to deal with. Are we approving sin in our culture because it
is politically correct and we are afraid someone will call us a
prude? Are we justifying our sins and telling God that His opinions
don't matter? Do we look at the people who speak the Word of God into
our lives and blame them for making us feel bad when we are already
down and out instead of seeing how that Word explains our condition
and taking a new path which is the narrow way of the Lord? Do we
believe God to be too narrow and unacceptting and turn from Him
instead of our sin?
No sackcloth, self-imposed misery...no
torn clothes, self-sacrifice, can replace repentance.
And that can save our wardrobe from
becoming tattered rags trying to get God's attention when the problem
might be God trying to get our attention instead.
No comments:
Post a Comment