II Kings 16:1 In the seventeeNth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign
My guess is that if you are reading this, you probably have some interest in knowing exactly what God wants you to do. You probably want God’s guidance in your life. You probably want to know what God’s “will” is for your life in any given moment. That is important. But just because we say we want to know God’s will and just because we ask God to reveal His will does not mean that we are actually seeking it the way we should be. What I mean by that is illustrated by the story of King Ahaz.
Second Kings 16:1 says, “In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.” It goes on to say he “did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father.” This was a man who was, quite frankly, a wicked king. He turned God’s people away from God, yet we find him seeking God’s counsel and guidance for his life. This was a king who corrupted the worship of God Jehovah, mixed in elements of the pagan Assyrians to the worship of God Jehovah, and sought the help of God’s enemies, yet he had the gall to ask God for wisdom.
We see how it goes down starting in verse 12. The Bible talks about all kinds of changes Ahaz was making in the temple. These changes were governed not by his conviction or God but by the pagans around him whose worship intrigued and infatuated him. One of changes was concerning the brazen altar. He said, “The brasen altar shall be for me to enquire by.” He meant that he would use the altar to enquire about God’s guidance, which was opposed to God’s intended purpose for the altar. So, here is a king who is making all these changes in contradiction to what God had said, yet he says he wants to know what God wants him to do. That is silly. Later it says that some of the changes were made “for the king of Assyria.” On the one hand he was seeking God’s guidance, and on the other hand he didn’t really care what God showed him. He would rather know what the king of Assyria wanted.
We can learn from this that it is foolish to ask for God’s guidance when we will not obey. There have been times in my life when I thought, “Dear Lord, give me guidance.” Then it occurred to me that God had given me guidance, but that I had not obeyed to the extent of what I already knew. When you simply obey to the extent that you already have guidance, God will give you more guidance.
There are three questions we can ask ourselves while we are asking for God’s guidance. One, whom do I trust? Verse 8 says, “And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.” When push came to shove and he was in a pinch, King Ahaz sought the help, not of God Jehovah, but of God’s enemy, the king of Assyria. So, whom do you trust? Ahaz said, “God, give me guidance,” but he was really depending on the king of Assyria. That is much like a believer today who prays for God to give guidance but listens to everything the world has to say when it comes to the ethic that will guide his decision.
Two, whom do I copy? Verse 10 says that when King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet the king of Assyria, he “saw an alter that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the alter, and the pattern of it, according to the workmanship thereof.” He goes on to make this altar that was designed in Damascus by Assyrians for pagan gods a centerpiece of God Jehovah’s temple. He said he wanted to seek God’s guidance, but he trusted Assyria and copied Assyria. Whom you trust and whom you copy are two signs of whom you really obey.
Third, whom do I seek to please? Verse 18 says that the changes Ahaz made were “for the king of Assyria.” Galatians 1:10 says, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” Whom you seek to please is an indication of whom you actually serve. I serve the one I am trying to please. In this case, King Ahaz was trying to please the king of Assyria while he was saying that he wanted God’s guidance.
Today, it is wonderful if you want to know God’s guidance. Maybe you do really want God’s guidance, but if you really seek to not only ask for but receive God’s guidance, ask the questions, “Whom do I trust? Whom do I copy? Whom do I please?” God is ready, willing, and able to give all the guidance you need today if you will simply seek Him for it.