Insanity

Behold, the LORD will bring a great plague on your people, your children, your wives, and all your possessions, and you yourself will have a severe sickness with a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the disease, day by day. 2 Chronicles 21:14

Every time I relapsed, I told myself this time would be different. Though every previously attempt at drug use had ended in disaster, I told myself, This time, I’ll get away with it. Later, when addicted and unable to stop, I knew I needed to confess and get help. The thought of that was too painful though, so, I kept telling myself I’d stop after the next bottle of pills. This is the last one, I swear. Then I’ll stop. I knew it was a fool’s plan, and I knew it was destined for failure. Still, despite all my previous failures, I just kept trying to do it my way. Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, I just kept repeating the same corrupt behavior, hoping for a different outcome. It will be different this time. That is the definition of insanity.

King Jehoram displayed a similar aptitude for insanity in today’s passage. Jehoram’s great sin was that he worshipped foreign gods, offending the real God. In his idolatry, Jehoram recognized that his brothers were better men than he. Instead of changing his ways to be more like his brothers, he simply had them put to death. Because of his poor leadership, two provinces, Edom and Libnah, revolted against his rule, violently succeeding from his kingdom. Finally, the prophet Elijah sent Jehoram a letter, condemning him for his idol worship, explaining that everything bad that had happened and everything bad that was going to happen, was due to Jehoram’s idol worship. Elijah prophesied that, because of his sin, Jehoram was going to lose everything – his family, his possessions, and even his life.

Surely this warning caused Jehoram to repent, right? Wrong. Jehoram refused to change. Even after Judah was invaded and his family was carried off, and even after two years of an agonizing bowel disease, Jehoram refused to repent. Though the consequences kept piling up and though he was losing everything, he just kept doing the same thing, hoping for a different outcome. A different outcome never came though, and at the end of two years, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great agony (1 Chronicles 21:18-19).

When we defy God, going our own way, we inflict misery upon ourselves. In our misery, the solution is obvious. Repent. Confess. Get help. Commit to radical change. All of that is too painful though. So, we change nothing, continue our corrupt behavior, and hope for a different outcome. That is insanity and if we don’t repent, that insanity will define our lives.