Advent, Day 10
GLOOM
The kingdom of Israel broke into two pieces, with most of the 12 tribes joining Israel to the north rather than Judah. If they had been paying close attention, they should have recalled that God’s deliverer would rise from Judah, not from Israel, but most of the tribes did not put their faith in God’s promises. They followed Israel’s kings who were all varying shades of wicked. None feared the Lord or walked in the ways of King David.
The kings of Judah were not a particularly outstanding bunch. A few of them encouraged spiritual revival, but their efforts were half-hearted. The darkness always returned, and the light grew fainter and fainter over the centuries.
After many repeated warnings and passionate pleas, God’s restrained judgment arrived. God handed the defiant northern tribes over to foreign powers who erased Israel from the map. God supernaturally intervened to spare the kingdom of Judah, but they survived with a limp.
For two more centuries, Judah endured as a nation, sometimes thriving, but mostly just clinging on. The destruction of Israel should have served as a powerful warning to Judah: God would not tolerate idolatry and oppression (the worship of idols in those days involved many cruel, oppressive practices), but Judah hardly seemed to hear the warning. They continued their slow slide toward darkness. God’s repeated warnings seemed to fall on deaf ears. Their ears were not deaf in a literal way, but they were deaf in an even more dangerous way—a dark fog of bent and twisted loves had entrapped them. The Psalms warn of how this can happen:
…idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell… Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
– Psalm 115:5-8
False worship isn’t just bad—it is blinding, deafening, and mind-numbing. It teaches our hearts to make excuses and protect ourselves from the truth that our sin is harmful. As our excuses mount, they surround and shroud and finally bury us. We become trapped by the lies we tell ourselves. We become spiritually numb, and doubts creep in.
Judah became blind, and so darkness was their home. God had promised David an eternal line, but his royal heirs had lost their sight. God could not eternally condone such blind leadership. He would need to find another way to fulfill his promises. Luckily, God already had the perfect plan! But before the arrival of that plan, the sad chapter of Judah’s independence crashed to a dismal close—the royal line of David was felled from the throne. Jerusalem was defeated. The gloom of exile covered the land.
DAILY SCRIPTURE READING
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel. All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.
The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy. Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans.
– 2 Chronicles 36:11-17
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
– We are not likely tempted to bow before carved statues today, but we may be tempted to worship the prosperity, pleasure, power, and protections that idols portended to offer. What created things or pursuits are you tempted to worship in place of God?
– The psalm cited above seems to indicate that sin and idolatry can blind our spiritual eyes. Have you noticed this effect in your own life?
– What idols are you willing to let go of? Are there any that you are unwilling to let go of? If so, what is stopping you?
– As we wrap up this week, the story of God’s people has fallen into a dark place. But Joy sees through the darkness because it trusts God’s promises. Our world today is also dark. How can we defiantly rejoice even in the darkness?
PRAYER
Lord, you are slow to anger. You gave Israel and Judah so much time—centuries of warnings. You are more patient than the best of us! Lord, would you help us to see how dangerous and devastating our idolatry is? Forgive us for the ways we have worshipped anything except you. Only you are worthy of our deepest allegiance. Lord, I also thank you that while you are slow to anger, you do bring justice. You never condone sin or ignore it. You enter in. Help us trust the timing of your justice and not try to take revenge when we are wronged. Help us trust you as the only just Judge. Amen.