I recently listened to a podcast by a Lutheran scholar and theologian named Dr. Andy Root that blew my mind. He said that American culture right now is in its “2nd Kings Era.” Now, I realize that many readers out there may not be familiar with the bible, so let me unpack that.
2nd Kings is a book of the Old Testament that for many Christians, quite honestly, tends to be fly-by country. We love Genesis, read the Psalms often, and definitely get into at least some of the prophets, but 2nd Kings tells the story of Israel’s constant fall back into idol worship of some particular Canaanite fertility gods called the Baals, and it can be kind of repetitive and boring. Before 2nd Kings, under the rules of Kings David & Solomon, Israel experienced a golden era. They were the most powerful kingdom in their little slice of earth & they loved it. But after David & Solomon, Israel declined politically and economically and 2nd Kings tells the story of Israel’s later kings trying to solve that problem by constantly returning to “fertility god Baal” worship.
In other words, Israel thought, “Hey, why don’t we fix our decline by worshipping the gods of GROWTH!”
Still with me? Good. Do you see anything uniquely American in that last sentence?
Worship of the one True God, Yahweh, though was always supposed to be different. Yahweh was a God whose activity couldn’t be defined by economic, political, or even demographic growth. Yahweh was a God you interacted with at all times and in all places. Yahweh was a God who showed up at all times and all places, even in death, decline, and suffering. Yahweh was a God you couldn’t manipulate by giving him more sacrifices so you could get more stuff. Yahweh was a God who sometimes acted by taking things away. Yahweh wasn’t a God who could be manipulated by cultic ritual, but one you approached by prayer. Yahweh was a God who came down to you, not a god you brought down at your leisure by performing the right religious ceremonies at the right time. Yahweh was uncontrollable. The Baals were SO controllable.
And so Israel, in their decline, devolved into yet again worshipping the Baals; the fertility gods who would bring them GROWTH.
If we overlaid the story of 2nd Kings onto our world today, what names would we give the new gods of growth? Would we give them names of political parties, great leaders, or the new economic theories of the day? Would we give them the names of get-rich-quick philosophies or manifest-destiny frameworks? Would we give them the names of pithy self-help resources and gurus? What do we worship for the sake of growth, and why do we always want growth?
In the end, God sent prophets to the Israelites of 2nd Kings to call them back to worship of the one True God; our God who shows up at all times and in all places, even in death, decline, and suffering, our God who can’t be manipulated by giving him more sacrifices so we can get more stuff, our God who sometimes acts by taking things away, our God who comes down to us, not a god we bring down by performing the right religious ceremonies at the right time, our God who is blessedly uncontrollable and says, “follow me,” not “I’ll follow you.”
Growth is good, but growth isn’t God. Our God is bigger than any growth we might pursue, so big in fact, that He also meets us in suffering and death.
2nd Kings remind us that in difficult times we’re all tempted to ask the fertility gods (the gods of growth) to fix things. But 2nd Kings also reminds us there’s a better God out there. A real, living God who shows up all the time, even when nothing is growing.
