This chapter details the reign of Jotham’s son Ahaz, who led Judah to sin greatly.
“In the time of [Ahaz’s] distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord… For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, ‘Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.’ But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. And Ahaz gathered… and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. In every city of Judah he made high places to make offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the Lord, the God of his fathers.” (v22-25 abr)
Ahaz goes from bad to worse – thanks to his sin, Judah is beaten in war multiple times, hundreds of thousands are killed and captured, and he still doesn’t learn from his wicked ways. He sees his defeats as reasons to serve even more foreign gods who ‘defeated him in battle’ (in reality God gave Judah over to their neighbors).
Have you ever found yourself in a sin spiral? Something that started out ‘small’ (maybe a ‘white lie’) that began snowballing and growing at an alarming rate until it was completely out of control? I know what that’s’ like, and so does Ahaz.
No matter what worldly wisdom tells us, we can never correct sin with more sin – it doesn’t work that way. Scripture is clear there’s only one Way, one Truth, one Life that can save us from sin and restore us to right relationship with God: Jesus and His redeeming sacrifice (Jn 14:6; see also Ac 4:12, Eph 2:8-9).
The moment we sense our life is beginning to fishtail, I encourage us to take our foot off of the gas, give the wheel over to God, and let him save us from hitting the ditch entirely. There’s no way we can save ourselves from any amount of sin, so surrendering control of our lives to Him is the only option. Let’s repent early and often before we spiral out of control as Ahaz did.
Father God, our Rescuer and Redeemer, we long to obey You always. Father please save us from certain failure when we head down a sinful path. Father please get our attention, and help us to repent quickly before things spiral further out of control. Father please forgive us our sin, and help us to honor, glorify, love and obey You, forever and ever, amen.
~ Conqueror in Training