No Rain For An Evil Reign

No Rain for an Evil Reign

We have had a lot of rain lately - seems more than usual!

When you look up, you can see dark clouds in the evening and you just know it’s going to rain again tonight or tomorrow!

Of course I just put a watering system in my yard and then it rains a whole bunch! LOL! Also, right after I wash my car. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I have the power to make it rain! LOL!

When you look at the world, you probably think, yeah, it’s not so bad. I mean for the last few months the stock market has been going up! Prices like eggs and gas have been going down. All is great right and getting better?

From God’s point of view, tho, you have to wonder how He thinks things are going? There’s so many lost people! Saved people are compromising their faith and not staying true to His Word. Riots in the streets, where has our love gone?

Matthew 16:1-4 unable to discern the signs of the times

16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and putting Jesus to the test, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but are you unable to discern the signs of the times? 4 An evil and adulterous generation wants a sign; and so a sign will not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.

Today we are going to be in the book of Kings and talk about one of the Kings of Israel! Yay!

Now how many good kings were there in Israel in the books of Kings? Eek! Zero!

King Omri had a dynasty that lasted four kings, him, Ahab, and his Ahab’s sons! That’s a pretty long destiny for a king in Israel since most were assassinated for being so bad. That means he must have been a good king, right? Of course not.

Well, from the world’s perspective maybe so.

He was king of Samaria which was the capital of the Northern Kingdom later after Israel collapsed then it became the nation of Samaria and it was a happening place. If you lived there, you probably praised the king for all of the prosperity! Cough at the expense of righteousness and moral decline.

He was a Baal worshipper and not a worshipper of Yahweh, the true God of Israel.

1 Kings 16:25 Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all who were before him.

So he was the winner! .. of being the worst trophy! Well until his son came along!

Imagine that King Omri was so bad and so were his descendants that God raised two prominent amazing prophets Elijah and Elisha during that dynasty to oppose them!

Ahab (874–853 BC) — Omri’s son

Ahaziah (853–852 BC) — Ahab’s son

Jehoram (Joram) (852–841 BC) — Ahab’s other son

Jehu (841–814 BC) — Anointed king by Elisha’s messenger. Overthrew Ahab’s dynasty and eradicated Baal worship—violently

Remember Rule 1: God is in control and all is not lost! Rule 2: When you think that all is lost, go back to rule 1! (When you think that, don’t think that!)

1 Kings 16:29-33

29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30 Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.

So now, Ahab gets the trophy for being the worst, even worse than his father Omri! Wow! God is not going to Bless Evil so you know this will get interesting.

31 And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him.

Tyre and Sidon were island nations and were hard to beat and because of their ports, they became very rich. From a worldly perspective, it was probably smart to marry the daughter of the Sidonian king. You can imagine Ahab did this to have an alliance with the Sidonians so that if anyone attacked he could just call on pappy in law in Sidon!

32 Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.