1 Kings 16:18 -- On Despair and Hope

"And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king’s house, and burnt the king’s house over him with fire, and died."

1 Kings 16:18

Not a very happy scripture, for sure.  What this made me think of is repentance.  Perhaps all of us feel like Zimri at one time or another, and we think that if we lose something that we value highly, like a city / position of authority in Zimri's case, but it could be a house, a relationship, a definition of self, a job, our health, etc... and we get it in our heads that whatever it was meant *everything* and that life would just be ashes in our mouths without it.  We double-down on the short term thinking, honestly believing that nothing in eternity can compare to whatever it was that we lost.

Needless to say, we're wrong when we think like that.  Life moves on... it changes, and yeah, bad stuff will come, but so will good stuff, and if we stick with God, the good will always balance out and end up outweighing the bad.  Things get better, and with God, they get even better than that. :)

No loss is worth burning the king's house down with ourselves inside.  We can weather it, with God's help, and come out the other end, okay.  And if our loss is a sin that we think we can't be forgiven for, well there too, we're dead wrong... well, alive wrong.  The whole point is that we can be wrong and NOT die. :)  We can repent, and change, and overcome even the worst and most dramatic of losses and changes in our lives.  The Prodigal Son did it, and so can we.  God will help us, and welcome us home with open arms.

Zimri could have changed.  He could have repented.  He didn't have to die in a fire of his own making.  It wouldn't have been easy, for sure, but he could have lived and found a better purpose.  Today, let's be wiser than Zimri, and remember that with God there is always hope.  Let's turn to him in our despair and let him comfort and help us find our way to hope and happiness.