Chronological Reading Plan for July 7, 2 Kings 15, 2 Chron 26.

Today's readings are 2 Kings 15, 2 Chron 26. Tomorrow's are Isaiah 1-4. 

The main character in 2 Kings 15 is Ahaziah, the sixteen year old king of Judah. He was a good king and he did what was right in the eyes of the lord. Even so, he also failed to remove the high places and the people of Judah worshiped and sacrificed to other gods. Ahaziah's unwillingness to fully remove pagan worship early in his reign along with his growing pride will prove to be his undoing much further down the road as we will see in 2 Chron 26. Jotham, another good king who makes the same mistake of not removing the high places, takes his place. 

These high places that seem to be a constant presence in Judah are the leaven that will ultimately be part of Judah's downfall.

Next, we see a long line of bad kings in Israel, most of them removed from their thrones early in their reign. By this time, God has removed His protection from Israel and they have become another in a series of conquests by Emperor Tilgath-pileser of Assyria.

2 Chron fills us in on Ahaziah (called "Uzziah in 2 Chron 26). He is a good king, technologically advanced and able to expand Judah's territory rather dramatically. 

Later in his reign Uzziah (Ahaziah) gets prideful, turns away from God. As punishment, God turns him into a leper. Jotham takes his place.

Just as we saw in Joshua as the twelve tribes failed to occupy the land they were given and as we are watching with the kings of Israel and Judah as they fail to remove the high places, both with long-term disastrous results, we see that God's people must be determined to do whatever it takes to remove sin from their lives. Putting up with "a little" sin and tolerating ungodly behavior always has a tendency to allow those influences to expand and grow causing much bigger problems further down the road.