God in a corner

When I read 1 Kings 16 this morning, I thought, “Ahaz was an idiot. I wonder what priced he paid in the end for his idiocy.”

I thought that because Ahaz, impressed by the big gaudy altar used by the pagans in Damascus, ordered one built for the temple in Jerusalem. When it was finished, he had it put in a prominent place, and moved the bronze altar designed by God to a secondary spot.

Here’s his reasoning, in verse 15: “King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: ‘On the large new altar, offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.’”

What an idiot! Why disrespect God that way? How can you just put God in a corner?

But then, on my walk to work, I realized something. I realized that so often I set God aside unless I have a big problem. Many days I do my work and solve my problems using my own wisdom and the knowledge of my industry. I use advice from business gurus and the collective wisdom of my peers. But I seldom pray over them.

Only when my parents get a bad diagnosis or my kids are struggling or I’m feeling guilty about something do I really seek out the Lord. Oh, I pray often, but it’s easy for those routine prayers to become a task that gets checked off in the morning. Once done, I can get on with the real business of the day.

I think there are a lot of days when I do exactly as Ahaz did. What an idiot!