A King Ruined and a Life Ruined

There is a haunting phrase tucked into 2 Chronicles 28 — "they were the ruin of him and of all Israel" (vs 23). The "they" in that verse are the gods of Damascus, the pagan altars King Ahaz chose when he decided the God of his fathers was the problem. What happened to Ahaz is a warning for every age: self-sufficient choices that push God aside do not just ruin kings and kingdoms — they ruin lives and souls.

The King Who Blamed God

Ahaz became king at twenty years old, and the writer of Chronicles pulls no punches: he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord. Syria defeated him. Israel's northern king, Pekah, killed 120,000 men of Judah and carried 200,000 captive. Assyria offered little help despite the bribes Ahaz sent. The Philistines invaded. It came from every side.

Ahaz's response? He looked at the gods of the nations who had beaten him and reasoned, "Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me" (2 Chr 28:23). He gathered the articles of the house of God, cut them in pieces, shut the doors of the Lord's house, and erected altars in every corner of Jerusalem. He even rearranged the temple to accommodate foreign kings. He could not see that the problem was not God — the problem was that he had left God, and so God had left him.

That is the King Ahaz mindset: when trouble comes, look everywhere except inward. Blame the system. Blame the other side. Choose a different god. It is always somebody else's fault.

We Reap What We Sow

The principle at work in Ahaz's story did not end with the old kingdom. "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap" (Gal 6:7). When we convince ourselves we know better than God — about the home, about how to get ahead, about what we can cut corners on — we are sowing to the flesh. And the harvest comes.

Jeremiah said it plainly: "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps" (Jer 10:23). There is a way that seems right, but the end of that way is death (Prov 14:12). Ahaz could not see his own fault. He kept compounding bad decision on bad decision, and the nation spiraled down with him. We do the same thing whenever we put our confidence in anything other than God.

The Better Way — Led by the Spirit

Galatians 5 sets the two paths side by side. The works of the flesh — "adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions..." — these are exactly the road King Ahaz traveled. And the verdict is clear: "those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal 5:19-21).

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control — against such there is no law (vs 22-23). King Ahaz had almost none of these. He had no peace. He had no self-control. He flew from one false solution to the next. The Spirit-led life is the antidote. The Spirit works through God's word when we let it sink deep. David put it this way: "Your word I have hidden in my heart that I may not sin against You" — and that word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path if we will allow it to be.

Don't Put Anything in Place of God

Do not put anything else in place of God. That is the lesson Ahaz never learned, and it cost him everything. If covetousness has crept in and begun to play the role that the gods of Damascus played in Ahaz's court — pushing God's altar to the side — it is time to tear down those false altars and return. The Lord's way is the way. He is the way, the truth, and the life, not only on the road to heaven but in every decision we make along the way. Choose God. There is simply no substitute.