We just finished walking through the book of 1 Kings, with the theme of hope amidst failure. As the book progressed from David and Solomon to one king after another, it spiraled through history and showed that hope in a king—or hope in the next king—was hope that was going to fall short. King after king walked father away from God and more into individual, communal, and national chaos. So where was the hope? Not in the kings or in the nation or in the system or in the culture! Hope is in God.
We live in a different time than what is found in 1 Kings. It’s a different era, a different culture. There are different politics, needs, and challenges. But we too have our fair share of struggle and failure, and through it all, hope is found in relationship with God. And God is loving, caring, compassionate, merciful, and gracious. And while our experiences may be very different than that of the people in 1 Kings, God is still the same. And in relationship with Him, there is still hope amidst failure.
Last week we came to the end of 1 Kings, and we saw that Ahab was repeatedly declared to be the worst. And yet, God was God: gracious, entrusting, loving, persistent, merciful. Even for Ahab. He loves us, and in Him there is hope even in the midst of the greatest failures, challenges, chaos, and struggle.
Here’s how 1 Kings ends:
Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, because he followed the ways of his father and mother and of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He served and worshiped Baal and aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, just as his father had done. (1 Kings 22:51-53)
Ahab dies and his son Ahaziah becomes king. Ahaziah follows the path of his parents and of the earlier king Jeroboam, all of whom led people away from following God. He worshiped false gods and aroused the anger of the Lord.
And with this we turn the page into 2 Kings.
Our thematic focus for this book is based on a group of questions whose echo we’ll see over and over in the pages: How are they going to live? What are they going to choose? How will they respond? Will they turn away from God? Will they turn to God? And as we, the readers, ask these questions again and again through the text, we will see the people persist. Some good, and a lot of bad.
1 Kings had a theme of God’s grace. 2 Kings circles around how the people respond when given the opportunity to walk in connection with God. The answer (spoiler alert!) is that many people persisted in walking away from God. But even in this, it wasn’t over. There was always available the opportunity to turn to God. And the question comes to each person: How will they persist?
And these realities come to us: opportunity to connect with God is available. And the question comes to us: How will we persist?
Life comes at us, full of highs and lows, successes and failures, joy and sorrow, wins and losses, hope and disappointment… so many things. But in all of them, we are faced with the repeated decision about what we will persist in. How will we persist?
As we begin to answer that, one thing that immediately comes up is intentionality. Persisting pleads for intentionality.
I want to give you a list of things that might require intentionality or effort as life comes at us. I want you to score each one from 0 to 7, where 0 means this requires no effort and 7 means this requires the utmost effort. This isn’t meant to define us or make us feel bad, but to foster deeper conversation and more meaningful processing.
How much intentionality does it take to live these things out?
Love others sacrificially
Forgive quickly and completely
Choose humility over pride
Serve rather than be served
Pursue truth even when it costs
Show compassion to the hurting
Be patient in difficulty
Speak words that build up
Walk in obedience to God
Seek justice and defend the vulnerable
Extend grace when it’s undeserved
Trust God in uncertainty
Practice self-control
Choose peace over conflict
Remain steadfast in trials
Honor others above yourself
Be slow to anger
Live with integrity in private and public
Share hope with those who are lost
Keep your heart aligned with God
Now that you’ve scored these things, let’s talk about this?
What stands out to you as you did this exercise and see your responses?
Here’s another list, which might be the opposite or negative of each thing in the first list.
Put yourself first at others’ expense
Hold grudges and refuse to forgive
Choose pride over humility
Expect to be served rather than serve
Bend or ignore truth for personal gain
Ignore the hurting and stay indifferent
Be impatient and easily frustrated
Use words that tear down
Resist or ignore God’s direction
Overlook injustice to protect your comfort
Withhold grace and make others earn it
Rely only on yourself in uncertainty
Give in to your impulses
Stir up conflict instead of peace
Quit when things get hard
Put yourself above others
Be quick to anger
Live differently in private than in public
Keep hope to yourself and stay silent
Let your heart drift away from God
If intentionality is missing, do we automatically drift more toward these negatives?
Can the positive only happen with intentionality?
Does the negative always happen when there is no intentionality?
When I think of a moment in the Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) when there was an “intentionality miss,” I think of the moment in Matthew 26 when Jesus and the disciples were in the Garden of Gethsemane.
A lot has just happened in the hours leading up to this moment: Jesus shared a final meal with His disciples during Passover and instituted the Lord’s Supper. He predicted His betrayal by Judas, and the disciples were confused and unsettled, each asking, “Is it me?” Jesus also predicted Peter’s denials. He taught them about servanthood and love as He washed their feet. Jesus prayed a long, intentional prayer for His disciples and future believers (John 17). And as they walked from the upper room to the Mount of Olives, Jesus told the disciples that they would all fall away that night, though Peter insisted he wouldn’t.
And a lot will happen in the hours after this moment. Judas will arrive with a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by religious leaders. He will betray Jesus with a kiss, identifying Him to the crowd. One disciple will react violently, cutting off a servant’s ear, but Jesus will stop the resistance and choose surrender, stating that this is the fulfillment of Scripture. The disciples will scatter and flee, leaving Jesus alone, though Peter will follow at a distance. Jesus will be taken to the high priest (Caiaphas) where leaders will gather to accuse Him, bringing false witnesses forward whose stories don’t add up. Jesus will remain mostly silent, then will affirm His identity as the Son of Man. The leaders will accuse Him of blasphemy and condemn Him. Jesus will be mocked, struck, and abused by those holding Him. Peter will be confronted three times and will deny knowing Jesus, and then when the rooster crows, Peter will remember Jesus’ words and break down in grief.
With that context—what had just happened and what was about to happen—we come to Matthew 26.
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!” (Matthew 26:36-46)
Jesus and His disciples are just outside the city gates of Jerusalem. They just finished celebrating Passover. And beyond the things we listed previously, so much had happened in the last few days. They had seen Jesus’ triumphal entry into the city and His flipping of the tables in the Temple. They had seen Him teaching in the Temple. There was so much. And without question, they had to be exhausted. Physically, emotionally, and relationally exhausted.
Jesus says to them as they get to the garden, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He pulls Peter, James, and John apart and asks them to join Him. And Jesus is visibly overwhelmed with emotion as He turns to them and says, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
But despite His intense declaration and request, they fell asleep as He prayed. Even after Jesus woke them, they fell asleep again. They were exhausted. It was late and life had been so busy and stressful, and now they were empty. Can you feel the tension between their incredible exhaustion and the scale of the moment they were in? And the pull of exhaustion led them to not have the intentionality that the moment was pleading for.
Doesn’t that sound familiar?
What is important for you to do when you feel exhaustion taking control, rather than purposeful living?
Let’s go back to 2 Kings. Ahab, the worst king Israel ever had, is gone, but things don’t get better. His son Ahaziah steps in. He only reigns about two years, but that’s long enough to continue the same pattern of idolatry and evil. There was no turning toward God.
At one point Jehoshaphat, who was a good king in the southern kingdom of Judah, tried to make an alliance with Ahaziah. They built ships together. But God tells Jehoshaphat that because he made an alliance with evil Ahaziah, the ships would all be destroyed.
Later, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, whose ways were wicked. He agreed with him to construct a fleet of trading ships. After these were built at Ezion Geber, Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made.” The ships were wrecked and were not able to set sail to trade. (2 Chronicles 20:35-37)
So Ahaziah was a complicated character, just like his parents. He walked far from God and brought the nation with him.
One day he was up on a balcony and he fell and was badly injured. Let me pause for a short conversation that may seem inconsequential but that will tie into our processing.
What has been your most severe injury in life?
Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. (2 Kings 1:2)
Ahaziah is gravely injured. And that moment could have been a turning point. He could have cried out to God and asked for His help. He could have asked the priests or prophets for help. But instead, he sends messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to ask if he would recover.
But before the messengers even get there, God steps in, sending Elijah to intercept them.
But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “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!’” So Elijah went. (2 Kings 1:3-4)
So the messengers turn around and head back. The king is surprised that they are back so soon, but when they tell him what happened and describe the man, he immediately knows it’s Elijah—the prophet who’s been so much trouble to his family.
Ahaziah doesn’t like the answer. He doesn’t believe it. So he tries to force the situation.
Then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. 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!’” Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men. (2 Kings 1:9-10)
50 people died. Just like that. So the king persists and tries again. He sends a second group with an even more demanding tone.
At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, “Man of God, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’”
“If I am a man of God,” Elijah replied, “may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men. (2 Kings 1:11-12)
The king sends a third captain. When will Ahaziah learn?? But this time it goes differently, not because of the king but because of the captain, who comes humbly.
So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. “Man of God,” he begged, “please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!” (2 Kings 1:13-14)
So Elijah agrees to go to the king, where he delivers the same message face to face.
He told the king, “This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!” So he died, according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken. (2 Kings 1:16-17)
At the same time Ahaziah was king in Israel, Jehoshaphat was king in Judah. We can see clear contrast between them in 2 Chronicles 17, where Jehoshaphat followed the ways of David. He consulted God, not Baal, and his heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord. He removed high places and Asherah worship, and various Philistine towns brought him tribute.
Now Jehoshaphat wasn’t perfect. He made some big mistakes, including making alliances with evil kings. But he definitely contrasts with Ahaziah who led people away from God and sought the help of foreign gods, following the influence of his parents Ahab and Jezebel.
Now, I would say that Ahaziah was not set up well. He came from a complicated family life and was given poor examples. He had overwhelming responsibility and now a tragic injury. And in that moment, how will he persist? In this not-ideal moment, will he turn to God or turn away from God? How will he persist?
In less than ideal circumstances, what turns someone to God? What turns someone away from God?
Today we have processed a lot, talking about intentionality and exhaustion, sharing a personal injury story, and seeing Ahaziah’s persistence in not turning to God in a negative circumstance. Let’s have one last moment of conversation as we end.
What could or would encourage you to be intentional in turning to God in less than ideal moments?
What could or would discourage you from being intentional in turning to God in less than ideal moments?
Take It Deeper Questions:
Read 2 Kings 1.
What are some scenarios that would leave you feeling unusually desperate? Think of extremes.
How do you tend to respond when life leaves you feeling desperate? Are you calm in the fire, frantic in the chaos, angry at everyone, running from it all, not looking back at the explosions, or something else?
What could or would discourage you from being intentional in turning to God in less than ideal moments?
What could or would encourage you to be intentional in turning to God in less than ideal moments?
How are you challenged, encouraged, focused, and/or confused by this text?
Bible Reading Plan:
2 Kings 1 • Wrong Source, Final Word
2 Kings 2 • Passing the Mantle
2 Chronicles 21 • A King Who Walked Away
2 Chronicles 25 • Selective Obedience
2 Chronicles 26 • Pride in Power
2 Chronicles 33 • Humbling a Rebellious King
2 Chronicles 36 • Ignored Warnings