“Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord…and laid hold on other gods and worshipped them and served them.’” – 2 Chronicles 7:22

God’s warning to put nothing before Him, seen again in verse 19, is prevalent throughout the Bible. He doesn’t like it and is very clear about it. The most unique aspect of this particular passage is the lasting consequence God dictates to His people if they choose to serve other gods and worship them. Not only will He bring disaster, but He will also turn the whole scenario into a lesson and illustration for future generations.

When I was teaching, I used to love to tell stories. Often my students who knew about my love for story telling would try to get me to tell stories to kill class time. Regrettably, they were good at it and many minutes were wasted talking about old college roommates and the deadly cat I had growing up. Though some of my stories were just for fun, most of them had a useful lesson to be learned.

Many times my stories included former students who had gone against rules and guidelines and the resulting consequences were not only humorous but also valuable teaching points to help prevent other students from making the same mistake. Unfortunately, there were more than a handful of students who did not heed the warnings and followed the same path as the Israelites becoming another story for me to tell.

Unless it has something to do with wisdom, I don’t want what I do to be made into a proverb or example for future generations. I don’t want God to be able to use my actions and disobedience as an statement of what not to do. I want God to be proud to put me on the victory side of the example pedestal to show off how it should be done. However, I’m still in the class hearing the lessons and more often than not finding myself in the shame side of story. How much longer is it going to take me to finally get it and stop allowing the thrill of ignoring the rules to get the best of me?