2 Kings 17

Hoshea became the next king.  It is curious what scripture says about him: “As far as GOD was concerned, he lived a bad life, but not nearly as bad as the kings who had preceded him”.  So Hoshea was bad, just not as bad as some of the other guys who came ahead of him.  But the key here is that he was still bad.  This is important because we may have a tendency to think that while we are a sinner, we certainly are not as bad as a murderer, or thief, or child molester etc.  But look at what happened to Hoshea.  He was not paying the king of Assyria like he was supposed to.  So he gets thrown in jail and the king comes after his kingdom and lays siege to Samaria, for three years.  Then the people were exiled.  Pay attention to what God says: “The exile came about because of sin”.  Remember that Hoshea “was not nearly as bad” yet his people were laid siege to and exiled “because of sin”.  Guys – God does not look kindly on sin.  He cannot tolerate it even if it is not nearly as bad as another.  God cannot deal with sin – any sin.  Don’t forget this.  It is a big deal!