Don’t Just Be a Good King, Destroy the Idols
The kings of Israel and Judah were a mixture of good and bad kings. Bad, meaning that they did evil things and strayed away from God. One mark of a good king is that he would hold the kingdom to accountability when it came to what his people worshiped. Quite simply, he got rid of idols- foreign altars and pagan shrines.
Looking at King Asa, the Bible states that he did what was pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord his God:
“He removed the foreign altars and the pagan shrines. He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Ashera poles. He commanded the people of Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to obey his law and his commands. Asa also removed the pagan shrines, as well as the incense altars from every one of Judah’s towns. So, Asa’s kingdom enjoyed a period of peace. During those peaceful years, he was able to build up the fortified towns throughout Judah. No one tried to make war against him at this time, for the Lord was giving him rest from his enemies.
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The Bible is clear, God doesn’t want us worshiping idols:
“Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.” – 1 Corinthians 10:14
“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” -1 John 5:21
So, when we see all the kings of Israel and Judah- as mentioned above with King Asa in 2 Chronicles- it’s interesting that their names are listed and immediately after, it states if that king did was pleasing in the site of God AND, if they tore down pagan shrines. Not only does God want us to be pleasing, living out a Godly and holy lives, but he doesn’t want us worshiping idols. For almost every king listed, it goes the extra step to tell us if they destroyed pagan shrines so that the people couldn’t’ worship them.
There is a blessing attached to when we live holy lives AND prohibit idols from surfacing in our lives. What we can take away from the information listed about the kings of Israel is that God deeply dislikes the idols in our lives and he wants them destroyed, and he doesn’t want others influenced by any idols in our lives. Our God takes an invested interested in our lives, and he only wants us serving him because there is a freedom and joy when as Paul states, we are only a “bondservant” to Christ. Other faiths do not offer this eternal freedom and truth.
So, if you have an idol in your life (an addiction, a bad habit, an activity that consumes you- any sin) make a concerted effort to lay it at the foot of the cross and be free from it.