We read 2 Kings 17 as a family this morning. This tragic chapter recounts the destruction of the ten northern tribes of Israel in 722 BC. What struck me as we read was *why* they were destroyed. It wasn’t because Assyria was way too strong for them. It wasn’t because all the surrounding nations worshiped idols. It wasn’t really because of their enemies at all.

Israel was destroyed because “the children of Israel secretly did against the LORD their God things that were not right” (v. 9). It wasn’t those on the outside that doomed Israel. THEY DID IT TO THEMSELVES! For hundreds of years, God had warned them what was coming, and they refused to believe it could happen to them until the moment they were taken away in chains and the nation was forever destroyed.

Many of you probably think our country is going to hell. And I’m sure we all have someone to blame. It’s the Russians! It’s Big Tech! It’s the gays and the democrats and the teacher’s unions.

And all the while we ignore a 33% divorce rate among American Christians. We turn a blind eye to the fact that an American child is more likely to have a pet in their home than a mom and a dad. We’re silent about 68% of church-going men regularly watching porn—an industry that fuels sex trafficking and increases the likelihood of adultery by 300%. We donate thousands of dollars so televangelists can buy more jets while we judge the homeless man on the street corner asking for a Big Mac. We complain that there isn’t prayer or Bible study in schools, and then fail to pray and study the Bible at home.

Your enemies aren’t strong enough to take you down. The only person who can destroy you is you. I pray we learn the hard lesson of 2 Kings 17.

“They rejected God’s decrees and the covenant He had made with them, and they despised all His warnings. They worshiped worthless idols, so they became worthless themselves” (2 Kings 17:15).