King Ahaziah was the son of Ahab, and he ruled in the Northern Kingdom called Israel in the days when Israel was divided. His father Ahab, and the kings that preceded him, walked in evil ways and did not follow after the LORD. When Ahab died, and his son Ahaziah ruled in his place. Shortly after taking the throne Ahaziah fell through the lattice of the upper level of the home in which he was staying. Being severely wounded and failing in his health, Ahaziah wanted to know the answer to just one question: "Will I recover from this?" We too have many such questions in our lives, don't we?
God understands that we have questions. Our questions are designed to bring us to Him! When the answers seem far off and confusing, we sometimes lose sight of the facts that God is there, He has the answers, and He desires for us to come and tell Him what our questions are. It is true that while all the previously mentioned facts are factual, we are certainly not guaranteed that God will tell us what He is thinking and planning and doing when it comes to our lives. But He certainly does want us to turn to Him and ask our questions of Him, talking to Him about all that is on our hearts and in our minds.
You may be asking right now, "Did Ahaziah ask God whether he would recover from his fall and the illness that followed?" Second Kings 1 tells us that he did not. King Ahaziah sought instead to get his answers from a false god named Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron. Does that name sound familar? Beelzebub is another name for the devil! Elijah the prophet was led to the men who were going to Baal-zebub to ascertain the answer to the question. An angel of the Lord directed Elijah to say this to these men:
"Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?"
These messengers returned (quite quickly, I presume) to their king Ahaziah, and told him what Elijah had said. Ahaziah did not like the message that Elijah sent back. So he continued in his plan to find a different answer from Elijah that resulted in the deaths of two of Ahaziah's captains and 100 of his militia. And eventually his own death.
While reading this story today, I was struck by one single thought. Am I behaving like Ahaziah, seeking the answers from everywhere from anyone but from God? How many times have I run to safe places of hiding, to counselors with easy and appealing solutions, to my own thoughts and opinions and guesses as to what the answer might be, and to the false gods such as the internet, friends, and family who might be more prone to "tickle my ears?" How many times has God looked down from the heavenlies, just waiting for me to turn my face toward His, and witnessed me run away from Him?
God would have been right, in those moments of idolatry, to send me a messenger who would say to me the same thing that was said to Ahaziah, "Is it because there is no God who dwells within you, as well as dwelling in Heaven, that you are going to inquire an answer from your own thoughts or your gods?"
God wants His children to trust only in Him. He is the answer, even if He keeps us guessing for awhile. Who or what do you run to when you have a question about your life? Is God your last choice?
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