Many generations before King Azariah, when the people of God first came into the land of Canaan, the people living there practiced their own idolatrous religions. They worshiped countless gods and idols in very immoral ways. The “high places” were the temples of worship that the Canaanites had built on the mountains for their idols. When God\u2019s people came into the land, God commanded them to destroy all the high places (Num. 33:52). For their own good, God wanted nothing belonging to false gods to stand between Him and His people. But they ignored the command and let the high places remain. By King Azariah\u2019s time, many generations later, the high places were still there and had become a stumbling block for the people.<\/p>\n
Azariah knew of the Lord’s command and understood that God had not changed His mind about idols. The king second-guessed God, reasoning along the lines of \u201cYes, God did say that we should destroy them, but not yet.\u201d Leaving space for sin in our lives still places a wedge between God and us. It is a sign of a divided heart, which is unstable and open to all kinds of temptation. Temptation will grab us if we become familiar with it by allowing our minds to dwell on it for a period of time. It is like young kids who grow up with toy teddy bears and then think that since the playthings are cute and cuddly, the real things must be also. In 1990, two boys scaled the fence of the Bronx Zoo in New York City and went into the polar bear compound. The next day they were found dead. Our pet sins can kill.<\/p>\n
“LORD, we repent of our pet sins and turn from them now. Take them from our lives, we ask, in Jesus’ name.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 Kings 15 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign.\u00a0\u00a02<\/sup>Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem. And his mother\u2019s name\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>Jecholiah of Jerusalem.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And he did\u00a0that which was\u00a0<\/em>right in the sight of the\u00a0LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done;\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0Save that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places. 5<\/sup> And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king\u2019s son\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>over the house, judging the people of the land.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did,\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead. 8<\/sup> In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0And he did\u00a0that which was\u00a0<\/em>evil in the sight of the\u00a0LORD, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And the rest of the acts of Zachariah, behold, they\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0This\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0which he spake unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth\u00a0generation\u00a0<\/em>. And so it came to pass. 13<\/sup>\u00a0Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and smote Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0And the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 16<\/sup> Then Menahem smote Tiphsah, and all that\u00a0were<\/em>therein, and the coasts thereof from Tirzah: because they opened not\u00a0to him\u00a0<\/em>, therefore he smote\u00a0it; and\u00a0<\/em>all the women therein that were with child he ripped up.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0In the nine and thirtieth year of Azariah king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign over Israel,\u00a0and reigned\u00a0<\/em>ten years in Samaria.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0And he did\u00a0that which was\u00a0<\/em>evil in the sight of the\u00a0LORD: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0And\u00a0<\/em>Pul the king of Assyria came against the land: and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0And Menahem exacted the money of Israel,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.\u00a021<\/sup> And the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did,\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0And Menahem slept with his fathers; and Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead. 23<\/sup> In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria,\u00a0and reigned\u00a0<\/em>two years.\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0And he did\u00a0that which was\u00a0<\/em>evil in the sight of the\u00a0LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king\u2019s house, with Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men of the Gileadites: and he killed him, and reigned in his room.\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, behold, they\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 27<\/sup> In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria,\u00a0and reigned\u00a0<\/em>twenty years.\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0And he did\u00a0that which was\u00a0<\/em>evil in the sight of the\u00a0LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.\u00a029<\/sup>In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.\u00a030<\/sup>And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.\u00a031<\/sup>\u00a0And the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, behold, they\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 32<\/sup>\u00a0In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign.\u00a033<\/sup>\u00a0Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother\u2019s name\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.\u00a034<\/sup>\u00a0And he did\u00a0that which was\u00a0<\/em>right in the sight of the\u00a0LORD: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. 35<\/sup>\u00a0Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the\u00a0LORD. 36<\/sup> Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did,\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?\u00a037<\/sup>\u00a0In those days the\u00a0LORD\u00a0began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah.\u00a038<\/sup>\u00a0And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many generations before King Azariah, when the people of God first came into the land of Canaan, the people living there practiced their own idolatrous religions. They worshiped countless gods and idols in very immoral ways. The “high places” were the temples of worship that the Canaanites had built on the mountains for their idols. 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