22 In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord. 23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.” But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.
Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king of Judah. Even though his father, Jotham, and his grandfather, Uzziah, both did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, Ahaz did not. Some of the things he did contrary to God’s commands include making idols of false gods for worship and engaging in human sacrifice; specifically, sacrificing children in fire. The results of this blatant idolatry were that his kingdom was delivered into the hands of the King of Aram as well as into the hands of their sister nation, Israel. At the hands of the Israelites, 120,000 soldiers from his army were killed and 200,000 other were taken into captivity. (Although God used Israel to bring justice against Ahaz, He convicted Israel of going too far through the prophet Oded.)
Had this young king looked at the history of the nation he led he might have realized that he was a leader of God’s chosen people. This history lesson should have turned him back to God to seek God’s hand of protection and blessing. Instead, Ahaz goes further against God but embracing the false gods of his conquerors. “It worked for them; maybe it will work for me.” The Bible tells us that this was his downfall and the downfall of the people.
At times of trouble we all have a default mechanism we turn to. Perhaps it’s “comfort food”, or alcohol, or drugs—illegal or prescription. Maybe it’s manifestations of anger or engaging in sexual immorality. Perhaps it’s experimenting with new age religions or some false spirituality because our favorite celebrity started following this new religion or cult.
Many times we turn back to the greatest stronghold from our past that we asked God to deliver us from is quite often the default mechanism. Instead of turning to the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, worship, and studying God’s Word, we go back to our slave-master. We might think this worked to make us happy in the past or we might think it seems to work for other people so I will give it a try.
When we do this, the results are often catastrophic. The results could be our downfall. Manifestations of anger could lead to a fight that causes us physical harm, incarceration or even death. Gluttony could lead to obesity and the associated health problems from this vice. Drugs and alcohol could also result in our arrest or land us in the hospital in need of rehabilitation. Practices of sexual immorality could lead to the loss of our family or our ministry—whether we are laymen or vocational ministers.
Obedience to God is the only correct course of action. Anything else will lead to our downfall even though it might have worked for someone else.
