Shooting the messenger

Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you.’ ” So they conspired against him, and at the command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. – 2 Chronicles 24.20-21

The nation of Israel was once a great nation that followed the Lord. When they followed the Lord they prospered and God gave them great victories. When they were following the Lord they prospered.

But over and over again, even though they were God’s people, they never could fully get rid of all the draws of the old world. They never could fully obey God. The regularly forsook the Lord and disobeyed His word.

That's not the main point today. The main point today is the response of the people to the preacher.

Instead of sorting things out they decided to ‘shoot the messenger’ as they picked up stones to stone Zechariah. If that wasn’t bad enough they did this under the king’s leadership.

Hopefully we don’t pick up stones to stone the preacher after the sermon it is easy enough to just criticise the preacher than it is to make changes in our lives. If the preacher is being true to God’s word he is not the one to ‘blame.’

We can be as bad as the nation of Judah. Instead of shooting the messenger why not just let God work in our hearts and make the changes He desires?