Why do it?

I was listening in my car today to my Audio Bible (Word of Promise Old Testament - which rocks) and I am in 2nd Kings right now, somewhere around the chapter 20/21 area. I was listening how Hezekiah was a very godly and zealous King of Judah. He was so close to God that when the Lord sent a prophet to tell him it was his time to die and Hezekiah cried to the Lord- the Lord extended his life 15 years!

However, somehow in spite of seeing this godly example all his life Hezekiah's son Manasseh was so wicked and brought so much sin into the land that the Lord made the decision to destroy the land of Judah and take the survivors into captivity (the Bible says he worshiped every idol imaginable, burned his own child to death, and filled the streets of Jerusalem with innocent blood). This is so shocking to me that you have a godly king followed by the worst and most cruel ever.

Next Ammon is King of Judah in the place of his father Manasseh and he is wicked. YET in spite of his grandfather and his father being incredibly wicked the next king- young Josiah follows God wholeheartedly. In fact, his heart is so committed to God that the Lord actually delays the promised destruction of the land of Judah until after the death of Josiah.

So, the pattern I see here is that no matter how bad your family life is its YOUR choice to serve God or not. No matter how bad the example you had in your parents and grandparents its still your choice.

And, the reverse is also true - we saw how even with godly examples we had the worst kings of all time.

So, each of us has a choice. Each of us cannot rely on our past, we cannot rely on our legacy, and we cannot make excuses if we come from a bad background.

We have to make a fresh choice, a commitment to a path, and choose God for ourselves - why do it? You have to decide that.

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