Finally!

     Finally, after a long long string of kings in Israel, one (king Elah) reigns. ¹ He follows the Lord. ²He finally tears down the “high places” for other gods. He tore down those lies that kept bringing Israel to its knees.  It’s always that one little blemish that makes us dirty. If you have a pure white shirt and it gets a black or dirt spot on it, one that you can’t seem to get clean isn’t the entire shirt considered dirty? We are all working to get closer to God. If you aren’t or don't want to know Him better, if I were you, I’d question my faith. We all have blemishes, I’m not personally the exception! These little gods in our lives (the sins that we still hold on too) are what hold us from Him. If you wonder why you don’t seem to grow closer to God no matter how much you try, examine yourself.

      If you keep reading in the chapter it says, “And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all David his father had done. He removed the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherah….and the Lord was with him wherever he went, he prospered.”

       When we choose to cut down the asherad poles and destroy the high places in our lives (destroy the sins we hang on too), God can come and bless us! Don’t get this confused with “prosperity gospel.” God doesn’t work like that. He is a being, we can’t “control.” God's like that. God has a plan and makes choices for His ultimate plan. However destroying the high places in our lives does allow God to come into your life, it allows Him to at least give you peace, be used by Him and to allow you to prosper. His promise is that He will always provide for us when we hold on to Him. Holding on to Him, without saying, is following His commands and living by His standards. If we don’t deal with the sins, that doesn’t allow Him to work in our lives, we stand apart from Him. We would have made the choice to not be in Him. That is a dangerous place to be.

     To begin to break down those “high places” in our lives (those sins that we hold on to), we need to admit the truth, we are weak, only He can make us strong. Only He is sustainment, joy and our peace.

Matthew Kelly