Biblical history offers enduring lessons about faith, sin and God’s providence
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
History whispers to us of God’s purposes for humankind.
I’m thinking about history because the readings for this week walk us through some key events in the history of ancient Israel — events in which the purposes of God for His people were clearly discernible.
In 2 Kings 17, we read of the fall of the northern tribes to Assyria in a series of events which happened in the mid-700s BC. As the writer of 2 Kings tells us: “This came about because the children of Israel sinned against the LORD.” The prophets told the people in words; now God was telling them in their history: sin has consequences. (As one biblical commentator put it: “God writes with history the way men and women write with words.”)
In 2 Kings 24 and 25, we read about the first and second waves of the Babylonian Exile, in a series of events which unfolded in 597 and 587 BC. Again, the writer of 2 Kings makes the reason for these events clear: “(The king) did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his forebears had done.”
In between those events, the same Assyrian army that had destroyed the northern tribes in the mid-700s marched against Jerusalem and the southern tribes around 701 BC. Upon receiving a threatening letter from Sennacherib of Assyria, King Hezekiah brings it straight to the temple of the Lord to pray and ask for God’s help. And as a result, the Lord saved Jerusalem in dramatic fashion. The writer of 2 Kings doesn’t belabor the point, but the message is clear: When you turn to the Lord, you receive His blessing; when you turn from the Lord, you bring about your own destruction.
It’s interesting that the patterns which were so clearly exemplified in the history of ancient Israel are also echoed in our own personal histories. This is part of what we see when we study the great spiritual writers like St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis de Sales and St. Teresa of Avila. Let’s be careful! The patterns of the spiritual life are only echoes of those historical patterns and need discernment. Still, it makes sense: The same God who was at work in biblical history is also at work in our own lives. Turning toward or away from the Lord has an effect on us.
Contemporary history continues to whisper to us of God’s purposes. Here, too, let’s be careful: They are only whispers. Anyone who claims to know exactly how history will unfold is fooling themselves and trying to fool others. Still, the same God who was at work in biblical history, and is at work in our own lives, is also at work in the world. So we can know, just as surely as the writer of 2 Kings knew, that turning from the Lord and turning to the Lord both have consequences for the history of a nation.
As we look back on the history of America, I think there are lessons to be learned about the ways we have turned toward or away from God in our “experiment in ordered liberty.” There have been consequences! So, as we look around at the issues of our own time, we can be just as sure that there will be consequences of turning toward or away from the Lord. History will continue to whisper to us of God’s purposes.
