In the Lord’s Sight

Yahweh wanted to be King of His people and make a place for them. They rejected Him, and He warned them. He gave them what they wanted, and they became enslaved like everyone else. In 1 & 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, people are faced with choices. Would they continue to reject the Lord and create their own high places of worship, or return to the Lord and His rightful place of worship? Would they do what was right IN THE LORD'S SIGHT as written in His word, or what was evil IN THE LORD'S SIGHT that seemed to work in the world? We face the same choices today...IN THE LORD'S SIGHT. #1kings #2kings #2chronicles #2023

Starter

• What are some fears that consume your thoughts, words, and actions?

Pray

Lord we thank You that You see all things. Help us to trust your plan for this world now, the world that you are currently building, and the new world you will bring when You return. As we look at the Kings of Your people and your people’s response from ages past, help us to see you and see ourselves. May we strive to understand our standing in Your sight as our King. May we long for the day when we will stand with all your people In the Lord’s Sight. Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do. Help us through our study today to fear you and fear not. Thank you for telling us so often and clearly the Why and Because of life. Thank you for helping us see the “Why?…Because…Fear” in our lives now and in the life to come. Amen

Study Questions

God had made a people of His own from Abraham. He had delivered them from slavery, subdued their enemies, and had brought them into the land that he promised them. However, because of their unwillingness to listen to God, his prophets, and his judges they asked for a king. God wanted to be their King. However, they rejected The Lord as King because they wanted an earthly King and earthly benefits now like all the other people of the earth seemed to have.

They thought an earthly king could do for them and provide for them what only God could. For 430 years, God allowed his people to experience the reality of rejecting Him as King and pursuing what they wanted in an earthly King. Thankfully in our King Jesus, the gift of His word, the power of His Holy Spirit, and the encouragement of His body the church, we can find help when we face the “Why?…Because…Fear.”

READ 2 Kings 17:1-20, Deuteronomy 4:6-7, 25-31, 28:62-65

1. God gives a list to remind the Northern Kingdom and all of us “Why?…Because…Fear.” This list is the because to the why that the people of Israel would have likely been asking. This list explains how God’s people ignored the reality of fearing Him and responded to worldly fears by…

   1. living in sin.
   2. living according to the customs of nations and people who don’t fear God.
   3. living in secrecy.
   4. building high places of false religious practice to the true God.
   5. making false idols
   6. trying and covering up the stink of their rotten hearts and actions with incense.
   7. becoming obstinate and not listening.
   8. rejecting and/or not even caring to know God’s statues, covenants, decrees, commands.
   9. pursuing idols.
   10. imitating the worlds customs.
   11. sacrificing children for perceived earthly gain.
   12. conjuring up signs and wonders over simple obedience.
   13. devoting (planning) themselves to evil.
   14. provoking God.

   Go through this list and answer: In what ways do each thing on this list expose what they/we are really afraid of instead of fearing God?

2. How do we see this list being practiced today by those that call themselves God fearing followers of Yahweh who saves (Jesus)?

3. Israel ignored God’s specific and clear warning in Deuteronomy 700 years earlier and 200 years of kings and prophets before their destruction.

   1. Do you struggle with God’s answer to Why?…Because…Fear even though it is often very clear? Why? Why not?
   2. What was God’s patience and sudden discipline designed to declare to the rest of God’s people and the world?

4. Why do you think God almost always has to destroy the lives we have created to get us to truly fear (awe) Him?

5. What do you think God may be doing in our day to try to get us to fear Him, but we like Israel are not listening because of our fear of not getting what we hope for or losing what we have built for ourselves?

6. We looked at Pragmatic Therapeutic Moral Deism last week. How does that process of belief expose what we really fear?

7. How do you fall for the fearful lie that God is done with you? (You are still alive!)

   1. How does believing that lie drive us away from the fear of God and into evil?
   2. How does fighting that fear drive us into Jesus’ loving arms and the loving arms of His people the church?

8. How might accepting the “Why?…Because…Fear” help us and help others in the midst of the spiritual and physical captivity all around us?

READ 2 Kings 17:21-23, Jeremiah 5:30-31, 2 Timothy 4:3-4

1. We see believers today falling into the age old trap of listening to the wrong voices and the fears those voices proclaim.
   1. What are the “Why?…Because…Fears” those false voices commonly tell us?
   2. What are the voices you love to hear and the voices you don’t like to hear? Why?

READ 2 Kings 17:24-41