Christian Devotional – August 17, 2024

Times of Transition, Day 38

Purpose. Read 2 Kings chapter 18.

This chapter begins with a fascinating story of King Hezekiah and his encounter with the Assyrians. But before those details start, we read about how King Hezekiah essentially cleaned house through the country of Judah. I found this verse really interesting because what was a memorial to an amazing act of God actually had been turned into an idol.

The story of the bronze snake that Moses created is a reminder of how God delivered the people. They had been disobedient and God allowed judgment in the form of deadly snakes. When they repented to God, he saved them. Moses made a bronze snake statue as a memorial.

Now all these centuries later this item that was supposed to be a reminder of the miraculous God they serve, was being used as an idol. We have to be careful that we don’t lose sight of why we have the things we have. Everything we have that memorializes what Christ has done in our life is important, but it’s never as important as Christ himself. We can’t allow things to stand in the way of our ability to worship God. Or allow things to misdirect our worship in any way.