June 25th
Shut
2 Chronicles 28:24
And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
Today church attendance seems to be optional for more and more people. It has become that way because of a variety of reasons. Two particularly come to mind. They quit attending because church is not helping them. Those who feel this way say that they church is not relevant to their real life struggles and situations. They feel that their needs are not being sufficiently addresses or met. Still others say that the church has hurt them. Perhaps someone said something that caused offense or they feel that they were shunned or looked down on because of something they had done. They feel rejected or abandoned by the people who were suppose to help them. No matter what the reason, they have chosen to "shut up the doors of the house of the Lord" to them and their family.
In our text Ahaz, the king of Israel, is under great duress. He is experience the heavy hand of God upon him because of his blatant and bold sin. He seeks relief not by repenting, but by reaching out to the powerful king of Syria and his false deities. But Ahaz made a faulty assessment, and a false assumption that led to faulty actions.
His faulty assessment was that the King of Assyria would help him. The problem was that when he turned to him before, "he did not help him" (2 Chorn 28:21). You would think that after emptying the treasury of the Lord to give to him and not receiving help he would realize that he wasn't going to come to his aid. So this time Ahaz hopes to gain his assistance by adopting and worshiping his false gods. But his attempts to please the king failed to persuade him to help.
He then makes a false assumption. he assumed that his defeat in battle was due to the might of the gods of Syria. He thought that "because the gods of Syria helped them" (2 Chron 28:23), that they would help him. He reasoned that if "I sacrificed the them they may help me" (2 Chron 28:23). So, he built this enormous altar to replicate the one in Damascus (2 King 16:10-11). But what he didn't realize was that his defeat was at the hand of his God, not theirs. It was the God of Israel that directed his enemy to prevail in battle. It wasn't the Syrian gods that brought the win, but the Sovereign God that brought His wrath. God was against him because of his sin which was multiplied by building an altar to the Syrian gods.
Finally, Ahaz carried out faulty actions. Once the altar was built he "gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem." He had determined that his God was not with him so he was not going to be with Him. He had decided that God was not meeting his needs and thus he no longer needed or wanted to go the "church'. It was no longer necessary or an essential part of his "spiritual" journey. He decided to cut himself off from the place of God and the people of God. The church was closed to him, so he closed himself off from them when he "shut up the doors of the house of the LORD" .
We must be careful when church doesn't go the way we expect. We can't just cancel the church because "it" is not helping us or has hurt us. We must turn to and trust the Lord to help us deal with our pain and perceptions. We can't be like Ahaz who walked away from God rather than walk toward God. We must not shut up the doors that we need open. God never shuts us out, but can easily shut God out.
Today thank God for the church. Thank Him that even though it is not "perfect" it is a place where we can grow in His grace and knowledge. Ask Him to help you keep the doors of the "church" open to you and your family, even when you are hurt and cant' find the help you need. Don't shut up what God wants you to leave open. Trust Him to turn your trust around.
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