Today we are reading 2 Kings 17. In this chapter we read about the wickedness if Israel and their exile into Assyria. “In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.” 2 Kings 17:6-8 ESV When God’s people persisted in their wickedness and idolatry, God “cast them out from His sight”. This scenario is reminiscent of Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden. The same would happen to us if we insisted on a life of wickedness and idolatry. Through daily repentance we reject sin, confess it and receive forgiveness. Through the study of God’s word we learn and are reminded of what is pleasing to Him. May God give you a joy-filled heart that gladly seeks His ways. Pastor Tim
