The Ruin of Us

2 Chronicles 28:23 KJV

For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

The temptation to worship false gods was in Ahaz's case, due to what he perceived to be those God's favor on the Syrians. If they had so blessed them, then perhaps they could so bless him.

Things are not so different in our own day. People still tend to follow after those they perceive to be successful and blessed. 

• In the world, it is the celebrity, the athlete, the wealthy
• In Christianity, it is the big church, the successful evangelist, the conference leaders

In either case we view them as having a sort of divine favor we want to somehow tap in to.  

Most of the time these celebrity types, just like the kings of Syria, are happy to accept the benefits of having a following but have little real interest in being a help to their followers. Still, the followers follow, hoping at last to find the secret, the combination of sacrifices and offerings, the "god" who will take their side and give them favor.

The Bible says these false gods were the ruin of Ahaz. 

• It wasn't his education
• It wasn't his parents
• It wasn't his circumstances
• It wasn't his lack of money or armies or influence

The ruin of Ahaz was his worship of other gods.

And so will it be ours. Our trouble now and in the future will not be the lack of

• Education or
• Wealth or
• Geniuses or
• Leaders

Our ruin as a people and as a nation will be our obsession with and dependence upon other gods but the living God.