What tragedy are you experiencing today that you need answers and direction for? Where do you go for answers and direction? Where do you stand with the Lord today? Are you seeking answers from Him or some other source? How desperate are you? God wants to communicate with you in your hardships, “Here I am! Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden, I will give you rest.” God was willing to die to make Himself known. The severity of God’s wrath against His Son demonstrates His love to you, and He makes that known. He wants to communicate with you. He won’t tolerate you going somewhere else for help.
King Ahaziah, the king of Israel, had an unfortunate accident, falling through a lattice and getting severely injured. He wanted to know if he would survive the ordeal and sent messengers to Satan to ask about future events. Really? Asking Satan? He wasn’t just physically ill but spiritually ill as well. And God hates when we seek other sources than Himself. No ouija boards, horoscopes, Tarot cards, palm readings, or consulting with Oprah or Dr. Phil will do. He is God alone and His Word alone will stand. “Is it because there is no God in Chamberlain that you are going to inquire of Satan? What am I, chopped liver? Have I not spoken, do I not speak?”
Why does Ahaziah consult foreign gods? I don’t know, why do you? It might be generational sin, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, he learned from parents Ahab and Jezebel who whored after false gods. Maybe it was ease, comfort, or a quick fix. He certainly didn’t trust in the Lord. It was stupid seeking. He should have known about Elijah vs. the prophets of Baal, David vs. Goliath, Moses vs. Pharoah, Gideon vs. the Midianites, Joshua and the battle of Jericho. Who won those encounters? Who always wins? Who loses and why ask the loser? Let’s ask the 49ers how to play winning football…
There are serious consequences for seeking foreign gods: “You will surely die.” God is angry, abhorring, and intolerant of false gods. He is jealous and zealous for His name, fame, and glory. “Love me only, glory to me only, I’m the best and only game in town,” He tells you today. But Ahaziah didn’t like God’s message, so he sent goon-squads out to arrest His messenger, Elijah. And fire rained down from heaven and burned them up. No more guards and no more Ahaziah. What about you?
God accepts the humble man who comes with head bowed and knees bent, seeking answers and direction. There is mercy for those who say, “Let my life be precious in your sight.” How do you approach God? And God wants to be approached. Where’s your humbleness and smallness before the creator and king? Jonathan Edwards said, “A truly humble man knows how little his own knowledge is and how much he doesn’t know. He is sensible of his weakness, how little his strength is, and how little he is able to do. He is sensible of his natural distance from God, of his dependence on him, and of the insufficiency of his own power and wisdom, and that it is by God’s power that he is upheld and provided for, and that he needs God’s wisdom to lead and guide him, and His might to enable him to do what he ought to do for Him.” Are you humble before the Lord in your suffering this season?
Know God today. Confess your nothingness before him. Distrust yourself. Rely only on Him. Seek Him alone for answers and guidance. Renounce all glory except from him. Yield yourself fully to His will and service. Do not be aspiring, ambitious, ostentatious, assuming, arrogant, scornful, stubborn, willful, leveling, or self-justifying, and strive for more and more of the humble spirit that Christ showed while he was on earth. God cares for you in your suffering and will give mercy to the humble man who seeks Him.