DON'T ACT AS IF THERE IS NO GOD

PROCLAMATION

“But the angel of The Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, ‘Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?'”  2 Kings 1:3 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel.  Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, succeeded him as king of Israel and ruled from Samaria as his father had done. (1 Kings 22:51)  Ahaziah injured himself when he fell through the lattice work of his upper room.  He sent messengers to go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if he would recover from his injury. (2 King 1:2)  Like his father and mother, Ahab and Jezebel, Ahaziah worshipped Baal and this angered The Lord God of Israel. (1 Kings 22:52-53)  The angel of The Lord told Elijah to go and meet the messengers from the king, and ask them if they were going to seek Baal-Zebub because they thought there was no God in Israel?  Elijah told them that The Lord said that the king was not going to recover from his injury and that he was going to die from it. (2 Kings 1:4)  Then he told them to return to the king and tell him what The Lord God had said. (2 Kings 1:5-6)  Twice the king sent a captain and fifty men and ordered Elijah to come down from the mountain and go with them to the king, and twice Elijah called down fire from heaven which consumed them. (2 Kings 1:9-12)  The third captain humbly approached Elijah and begged him to spare his life and the lives of his men, and so he went with him to the king and told the king what thus said The Lord. (2 Kings 1:13-17)  Elijah called down fire from heaven to prove that there was a God, and that he was a man of God with a message from God.

APPLICATION

Unfortunately, some people behave as if there is no God.  They may not actively worship something or someone else, but they do not worship The Lord God.  Occasionally even believers act as if they do not believe in God and they disobey The Word of God.  Some of the time The Lord God allows things to happen to us in order to get our attention so that we can turn from our sinful ways.  We need to remember that there are sins of omission as well as sins of commission.  Doing nothing is a sin of omission when we should be worshipping and praising The Lord.  If nothing in our life is giving The Lord God glory, then who are we glorifying?