Life's Street Corners

Carp's Daily Tidbits

"Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." Psalm 103:2

Date: Thursday, March 12, 2015

Today's Title: Life's Street Corners

Today's Scripture: 2 Chronicles 28:22-24  

Almost every afternoon, the ladies from the office and I would take a walk around campus.   We did it for our health and also to get away from the hustle and the bustle and the “little” challenges of the office. As the weather turned nicer and warmer, all of us looked forward to that little 30-minute escape and we carved out a special time on our calendars for this one purpose.

Our walks always took us the same way but we never saw the same things from day to day.  We met different people, heard different conversations, and talked about different subjects.  We discussed the progress of new construction occurring around campus and we discussed our respective days.

Our jaunts eventually brought us to the math building which is built in the shape of a huge triangle.  We made a right-hand turn at the corner of the building and continued our walk.  On several occasions, however, that corner was a source of deep reflection.  It was not so much the corner itself; it was what it represented.

If you think about it, we are faced with corners every day and at every one of them a decision must be made.  As I leave the university, I make no fewer than seven turns at seven different corners just to get to the Interstate.  At any one of those corners, should I make the wrong turn, my journey home becomes much more frustrating.  That’s the thing about corners; you have to make a decision.  Do you go right, left, or straight?  The decisions made at a corner will have a definite impact on everything done from that point forward.

Nestled in the book of 2 Chronicles, the Old Testament records the story of King Ahaz, a man who was challenged at the street corner’s of life.  In 2 Chronicles 28:22-24 we read, “In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD. He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, "Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me." But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel. Ahaz gathered together the furnishings from the temple of God and took them away. He shut the doors of the LORD's temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem.”

There are many lessons to be found in this passage but three stand out above all the rest.  Firstly, Ahaz was an unfaithful man.  Notice the scripture says he grew more unfaithful during his time of trouble.  In times of trouble, in times of great difficulty, our one refuge is in the Lord. Ahaz chose not to seek this refuge and he began a downward spiral that affected not only him but all Israel.

Secondly, we see that Ahaz offered sacrifices to other gods, seeking to solve his problems by any means other than looking to the God of his fathers.  In her history, God had protected, provided for, and given victory to Israel.  Ahaz had the opportunity to continue in that tradition and he chose not to.

Thirdly, Ahaz’s decision to abandon God utterly is complete.  Notice that he took the sacred things of the temple, closed its doors, and set up altars on every street corner in the city.  Not only did he refuse to worship God, he prevented everyone else from doing so.  The decision to set up altars on every street corner tells us that Ahaz’s decision was complete and permeated every area of daily life.

What a tragic statement but one that has bearing on us today.  The Scriptures tell us that our bodies are the living temples of God.  How often do we take the sacred things of the Lord, close the temple doors of our hearts, and seek to worship and serve other things around us?  How often do we, like Ahaz, set up altars to our jobs, to our ambitions, to our possessions, and to our wants?  How many people are we leading astray by our actions? What decisions are we making at life’s street corners today?