High Places

“He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD…The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.” 2 Kings 15:34-35.

King Jotham was the son of King Uzziah from our text of yesterday’s devotions and was the royal successor of the throne. The Bible describes him as a King who “was right in the eyes of the LORD.” He had witnessed the horrific downfall of his father and had watched him suffer the last part of his life. Jotham was driven to live his life closely aligned with what God required. However, like most of us he stopped short from total obedience in an effort to not create waves throughout the Kingdom. The high places of which Scripture speaks were sites elevated on hilltops and dedicated to the worship of pagan gods.

In thinking on this concept this morning I realize that although we sincerely try to be steadfast and obedient stewards of the spiritual laws of God we, too, fail to tear down high places. High places reside on the landscapes of our lives in areas where we fail to surrender to God such as our finances, our relationships or our trust. High places are elevated states of mind that we place ahead of God, manipulate apart from God and calculate without God. It is place where God is uninvited to work in our lives in our futile attempt to keep control over a certain issue in our lives.

We continue to hang on to our high places in an attempt to keep them out of reach from God in hopes that the other areas of our lives will busy God. High places are earthly leftovers that we fail to throw out allowing them to lay within our hearts and go bad. Just as King Jotham failed to remove these high places from his kingdom we allow our spiritual horizon to be peppered with places off limits to God.

The very thing for which we hold too tightly that controls our lives will be what God will eventually remove. He is a jealous God and will never share His kingdom with any other gods, especially the ones we create.