When the going gets tough…….

Hey hello, it’s been a while! I’ve been on holiday and had a complete break from everything, including this journey with the people of Israel.

But here we are again with some catching up to do.

Let’s start 2 Kings and see what it brings….

Ahaziah has succeeded his father Ahab as king of Israel. He’s had an unfortunate accident and fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself.

So where does he turn for help? Who does he trust to advise him and support him at this scary time? The one true God who has stood by His people through all the ups and downs of their journey? No.

So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.”  2 Kings 1:2

God sends Elijah to intercept the messengers –

“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?’ Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!’”  2 Kings 1:3-4

Why would you do this? Does Israel have no God of their own? Have you forgotten? Do you not trust Him? Why else would you send for a foreign god?

When the king receives the message, he knows it has come from Elijah. He sends a captain with a company of 50 men to him –

The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’”  2 Kings 1:9

Ah, so now they seem to remember God…..well, Elijah makes it very clear how powerful his God is –

“If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!”  2 Kings 1:10

And it did.

Obviously.

You don’t mess with the one true God.

Then the king does the same thing again.

So Elijah says the same thing again.

So God sends the fire to consume the men again.

Then the king does the same thing again.

But this time, the captain begs for mercy.

And God shows mercy.

And Elijah accompanies the captain to see Ahaziah.

Elijah asks the same question again – why go to Ekron to consult their god when you have a perfectly good God of your own to consult? What does this say about how much you trust your God? How much does this say to the nations around you about how much you respect your God?

For this, you will die.

And he does.

And Joram succeeded him as king.

 

So the big lesson for us here seems to be – where do we turn when the going gets tough? Who do we turn to for advice and help and support?

It’s easy to jog along on our faith journey when things are going pretty well and we need more than two hands to count our blessings and all is well with the world……but when disaster strikes or our pain is unrelenting or there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, then where do we turn?

Do we turn to the one true God?

Do we lean on God and rely on Him for strength and the grace to get through the next day, the next hour?

Or do we take matters in our own hands and search desperately in all the wrong places for the solution, the cure, the comfort?

I find it hard to turn to God, even though one of my favourite verses is Psalm 46:1 –

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

Because when I’m drowning, I reach out for something solid, something tangible, something or someone physically there. In the moment, I want a person, a quick fix, something to immediately take the heartache away…..not that that is necessarily wrong on one level, because God does send people to us, just as He sent Elijah in this story……..

But I know that my biggest problem is that I try to fix it in my own way and own time and own strength – and my way is not always the best way lol.

And God probably wants to say to me – why are you looking in all the wrong places for the answers? Why are you turning to other people and theories and objects for answers? Are these not foreign gods basically? What makes you think you have the answers? You have full access to the one true God and all of his resources and wisdom and power – why would you ever turn anywhere else?

I can still remember the first time I heard this song – I think of Andy and all the help he has been to me over the years and God too….it helps me think about turning to God in tough times. My first karaoke solo moment was singing this song in our hotel in Turkey last week…….maybe it will make its way into your head and heart too and make a difference for you today…..‘I turn to you….’