Can God Be Pushed Too Far?
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One of the great concerns I have for the body of Christ today is the image of God that we have created in our imaginations that doesn’t at all line up with the God of the Bible.
Because we want to be liked by the world, and because we don’t want the world to point an accusing finger of intolerance and hate in our face, we have conjured up a god that we call God and make him tolerant and loving.
Actually, this false god of tolerance and love is really a weak-kneed, wishy-washy god that agrees with whatever gospel of tolerance is being preached at the moment.
Whether tolerance of homosexuality, deviance, polyamory, or even pedophilia.
But this isn’t the God of the Bible.
The God of the Bible is actually shockingly intolerant of many things, and in the final week of our Good Morning Girls’ study through the Book of 2 Kings, we realize that with God there is actually a point of no return.
And for many, this will upend their theology completely.
Can God Be Pushed Too Far?
Last week we read about the joy of total victory when a Christian makes the choice to completely eradicate sin and idolatry from their life.
We saw how in just one night, the Angel of the Lord slaughtered 185,000 Assyrians in their sleep and utterly defeated a world power of terror that had dared to come against the land of Judah.
Because King Hezekiah was living a life of radical obedience to God, and had done what no other king of Judah had done – completely and utterly destroyed all idolatry in the land, God met him with blessing and totally victory.
But there was one thing King Hezekiah failed to do.
He failed to raise a son with a passionate heart of devotion to God.
Manasseh, son of King Hezekiah, became king of Judah after his father passed away, and was the most wicked king of all of the kings of Judah combined.
This is shocking and disturbing when you consider the passion that King Hezekiah had for God’s glory and for the singular worship of God and God alone in the land of Judah.
There was a breakdown at some point, because King Hezekiah was no sooner dead than the wickedness of King Manasseh filled the land of Judah so much so that 2 Kings 21:9 says this:
“…and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.
Judah had become more wicked than even her own enemies.
But then came King Hezekiah’s great-grandson to power – Josiah. And Josiah was as godly as his great-grandfather King Hezekiah was.
2 Kings 23 goes into detail about the disgusting wickedness that filled the land of Judah – including the houses of sodomy and prostitution.
Josiah didn’t just destroy idolatry, he first desecrated every idolatrous altar and then destroyed it.
I believe his heart raged with such righteous hatred toward the putrid and filth in Judah, that he didn’t want to just eradicate idolatry, he wanted to first desecrate every high place and every temple of idol worship.
He was sending a message loud and clear.
Josiah wasn’t just a righteous King, he was a righteous king who burned with a white-hot passion for the glory and righteousness of God.
And after reading of all of the ways he desecrated and then destroyed the high places, altars, and temples throughout Judah – which make up 16 entire verses – one would think that they would once again enjoy total victory.
Just like with King Hezekiah.
But instead we read these sobering verses:
“Nevertheless the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His anger was aroused against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. And the Lord said, ‘I will also remove Judah from My sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.'” 2 Kings 23:26-27.
And indeed, before the Book of 2 Kings closes with the final chapter, the land of Judah is defeated, the people are brought captive to Babylon.
Josiah’s campaign against idolatry and wickedness in land was too little too late.
For many, this will conjure up a lot of questions about God’s grace and forgiveness. Doesn’t God always forgive our sin every time?
The answer to this question can be found in Hebrews 10:26-29.
“For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”
You see, King Hezekiah brought cleansing to the land of Judah and restored worship to God and God alone – without any mixture of idolatry.
But it only lasted for as long as he reigned as king.
It only took one king – King Manasseh – to bring Judah to a depth of depravity that they had never before known, that even their own enemies didn’t descend to.
And that depravity lasted for two whole generations.
Who was to say that the cleansing that King Josiah brought back to the land of Judah would last any longer than his reign over them?
And if God judged the wicked for their sin, how much more should He judge the righteous for daring to take holy name of God and trample it in the dirt as if it means nothing to them?
Dear sister, we expect the world to act depraved, but when a Christian lives in sin it is a slap in the face of Almighty God.
Once we are made aware by the everlasting love and grace of God of how the holy blood of Jesus was shed on the cross to cleanse of the stain of sin, we are giving a great responsibility.
We are indebted to that blood!
We are obligated to live in a way that honors that sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf. So to assume that we can entertain secret sin and guilty pleasures in our life – and that God will simply look the other way isn’t just wrong.
It is insulting to the grace of God and sacrifice of Jesus!
Hebrews says this about Christians who harbor secret sin:
- They trample the Son of God underfoot
- They consider Jesus spilled blood as nothing special
- They insult the Spirit of Grace
And God will only tolerate this behavior so long before He is pushed too far. And dear sister, we do not want to push God’s hand too far!
By the time we reach the end of 2 Kings, we understand that the only way the lands of Israel and Judah will understand the holy and righteous jealousy of God is for them to be taken captive by their enemies.
Perhaps then, by being brought to utter defeat and captivity, will they bow their knee and fully repent for their sin.
Dear sister, I urge you – I plead with you today – if you harbor secret sin in your life; if there is an area of your life that you have refused to surrender to God in complete obedience to Him and His Word, please do so today.
Do not push God’s hand too far.
Secret sin is an open invitation to the enemy to defeat you and bring you captive to his depraved and merciless will. There is no telling where it will lead you once you have been taken captive by the enemy of your soul.
But if you push God too far, He will allow this happen – if only to bring you to a place where you understand His sovereignty and your own helplessness.
As the old proverb says:
Sin will take you farther than you want to go,
keep you longer than you want to stay,
and cost you more than you want to pay.
As we close our study this week in the book of 2 Kings, may it be a sobering reminder to us of the cost of secret sin, and the importance of living a holy life totally dedicated to God in radical obedience!
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