Leadership & God Part 1

 

    In the world today there is religion and then there is everything else.  What is missing is connectivity.  God is not religion.  The rules and ideas of how life is to be lived is religion.  Real Christianity is a relationship.  That means that when you remove God from the laws, court, work, school, and other events, then you are putting God in a box.  Things run better when we allow Him in every aspect of life.  

    King Ahaz of Judah is an example of a leader that did not please God.  He was 20 when he became king put God in a box.  He lived his life how he wanted.  He went so far to reject God that he sacrificed his own son to other gods.  Anyone that knows anything about the Living God, knows that He would never condone taking a life, especially an innocent child, in such a fashion.

    God has a way of making his presence known and never uses the same twice.  This time He allowed King Rezin of Aram and Prince Remaliah of Israel to attack, but not over throw King Ahaz.  God never forgets his promises and He had promised King David to never wipe out his family.  Lucky for King Ahaz that he was a descendant of David.  

    King Ahaz paid King Pilesar of Assyria to come to his aid.  It was an alliance, but only financially.  That is dangerous because that kind of alliance can be flipped easily.  God allowed the alliance to work.  In the big battle King Rezin was killed.  

    When it was over, King Ahaz had his priest, Uriah, to build a Damascan Alter to other gods.  Then he made a grand offering to it.  He did not acknowledge God's part in any of the events.  He went even further to insult God by defacing God's house.  God does not react.  He gives us time to change and think about what we do, so that we have the choice to repent.  

    King Ahaz never repented, so his life was cut short.  He died at the age 36.  When he died, his son Hezekiah became king.  It was now Hezekiah's turn to be a leader that includes God, seeks God, or rebels from God.

2 Kings 16