2 Kgs 25:1-12 / Mt 8:1-4
There’s an old saying, “Some folks never get the message.” There’s no doubting that it’s true, and it’s rarely more obvious than on those two Sunday mornings every year when the government announces that we must spring forward or fall back an hour. There’s always about five percent of the congregation who show up early or late on those days, and what’s particularly fascinating is how often it’s the same folks who do so year after year!
We see that very same phenomenon in today’s Old Testament reading. Only nine years earlier, the king of Babylon had conquered Jerusalem and replaced the king. But the new man was a foolish as his predecessor. With his puny armies, he attempted a revolt against the all-powerful Babylon, and this time — no surprise — there was no mercy. Jerusalem was burned to the ground and the population was deported into slavery.
In almost all of us, there are certain habitual actions, and/or omissions which don’t work or are even downright sinful — yet we continue to repeat them and to reap the whirlwind. Somehow, we don’t get the message! We are unhappy, or our life doesn’t work, and still we don’t change what is obvious to everyone else.
The alternative is to live more consciously, to look at our lives through God’s eyes, and to ask His help to see what He sees, and to do what He does.
“Lord, help me to see what You see and to do what You would do!” That’s the kind of prayer that God always answers with a “Yes”! So speak it from the heart!
