Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - God's Scandalous Grace | Historical Books | 2 Kings 14:23-29

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

How come non-Christians sometimes have better lives than Christians? Can God use a sinner like me? Are you taking God's patience for granted? In today's episode, Keith shares how 2 Kings 14:23-29 reminds us that God's abundant grace can never be earned. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 2 Kings 14:23-29

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Sometimes Christians are bothered by the fact that people who don't follow God's ways, who don't follow God's instructions, who maybe don't even believe in God, seem to live a better life than Christians who are doing their best to serve God as faithfully as they can. Have you ever looked around and thought, why do people who don't follow God seem to have better lives than people who do?

Well, today's passage in Second Kings takes us into that tension that we've all experienced one time or another. The chapter tells the story of a man named Jeroboam II. He was king in Israel during a time of deep spiritual darkness. And at first reading, the summary of his reign reads like a success story. I mean, he lived a long life. He spent a long time sitting on the throne. He expanded Israel's border. They had strong military. He had political stability. But underneath the surface, it's not a story of great leadership.

It's a story about how God's mercy can show up in the most undeserving places and be extended to undeserving people. Before we read the passage, let's pray. Lord, I pray that you would open our ears so that we would hear your word and open our hearts that we might learn to love you. Amen. Well, 2nd Kings 1423 introduces Jeroboam II. He ruled Israel for 41 years in a city called Samaria. Now, that's a long time for any king to rule over a nation. Think about it. An entire generation of Israelites grew up under Jeroboam II's reign. But verse 24 tells us everything we need to know about the kind of king he was. It says, he did what was evil in the side of the Lord.

He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, which he means. made Israel to sin. Now, that name Jeroboam, son of Nebat, it's a red flag in the biblical story. Jeroboam is the one who led the northern kingdom of Israel into idolatry after they split with Judah. And of course, that happened after Solomon's death. Just like David was the standard for spiritual success, Jeroboam's legacy became the standard of spiritual failure. And Jeroboam II, Jeroboam's descendant, followed in his ancestors' footsteps. Now, we're not given a full breakdown of all of Jeroboam's wickedness here in Second Kings. But if we look to the prophets who live during his reign, the picture comes into focus,

and it's not pretty. The prophet Hosea and the prophet Amos were active during Jeroboam's lifetime, and what they describe isn't just a rough season. It's a full-scale spiritual collapse. The prophet Hosea writes, there is no faithfulness or steadfast love and no knowledge of God in the land. They're a swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery. They break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

In other words, the covenant love is gone, truth is gone, restraint is gone. The land is full of violence and sin. The prophet Amos paints the same picture, but with even sharper edges. He writes, they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample the head of the poor into the dust. A man and his father go into the same. girl. In the house of their God, they drink the wine of those who have been fined. That's economic injustice, sexual exploitation, religious hypocrisy. All this is happening. All this is what's going on in God's

nation. This was the spiritual climate of Jeroboam's reign. He didn't confront the corruption. He continued in it. He didn't lead the people back to God. He led them to drift further away from God. So what would you expect God to do in response? Well, probably not what happens next, because verse 25 says that Jeroboam restored the border of Israel and then he gives two cities. In other words, what he's saying is that through his military success, Jeroboam was able to expand the borders of Israel. He was able to expand the borders to what they were during Solomon's golden reign.

And we're left asking, why? Why would God allow this evil king to see military triumphs? Well, verse 26 answers the question, for the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, and there was none to help Israel. And then in verse 27, but the Lord had not said that he would blot up the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam. Did you catch that? God was good to them, not because Jeroboam turned his life around.

it wasn't because Israel cleaned up their act, but only because God showed mercy to people who didn't deserve it. Jesus said that God causes the rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous. What do we learn from all that? Does it mean that you can be as unfaithful as you want and God will still bless you? No. The point isn't that sin gets rewarded. The point is that mercy can't be earned. God's blessing wasn't a reward. No, it was a rescue. God saw his people suffering, even though they had caused the suffering themselves, and he stepped in, not because they deserved it, but because he had made a promise, and God keeps his promises even when we don't keep ours. That's not an excuse to stay in sin, but it is a reason to fall on your knees and gratitude.

See, this is one of those moments where we come face to face with what you might call the mystery of mercy. And Jeroboam didn't earn a long reign. He didn't deserve military victories or political influence, and he definitely didn't earn the privilege of being an instrument that God used. But he got all of it, not because of who he was, but because of who God is. I don't know about you, but that sounds a lot like my story. I have sinned and rebelled against God, and yet God has continued to be merciful. I have not experienced all the negative consequences that I should have from my sin. Remember what Romans 5-8 says? It says God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

In other words, it wasn't after we cleaned ourselves up or after we repented. While we were still far off, God drew near. And Jeroboam is proof that sometimes God shows mercy to people who never thank him for it. And the cross is proof that God shows mercy to people who never deserve it. But here's the warning. Jeroboam received mercy and he wasted it. He didn't let God's mercy and goodness to him lead him to repentance. He didn't let God's mercy and goodness lead the people back to God.

No, he stayed the course on idolatry and injustice. He assumed God's mercy. He took advantage of God's grace. And eventually everything the prophets Hosea and Amos warned about came true, judgment did come. So what will you do with the mercy that God has extended to you? Romans 2 says, Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness,

forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Are you taking God's patience for granted? Are you assuming his blessing means that he's okay with sin? Or are you letting his kindness lead you to repentance? 2. Peter 3.9 says, The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, but he is patient toward you,

not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. God's mercy is never an excuse to keep sinning. It's an invitation to come home, to repent, to believe in him. We tend to hear a story like Jeroboam's and distance ourselves from it, at least in her mind. We think things like, well, sure, he was a mess, but I'm not that bad. But if we're honest, we're not really different than Jeroboam. We might not lead nations into idolatry, but we do chase our own idols. We bend the truth. We ignore injustice. We forget God. And yet when good things come our way, when we succeed, when doors open, when we're blessed, we're quick to take the credit. We act like our spiritual resume explains our wins. In other words, my life has gone well because I have lived well. I've earned the favor I've experienced. But that's not the way the world works. That's not the way God's economy works. The truth is, we're as rotten as Jeroboam. And the only reason we've received end. And the only reason we've received

anything good, any peace, any provision, any hope in our life, any physical blessing, any relational blessing, any eternal blessing? Well, it's all because we have a God who shows mercy to people who don't deserve it. A God who draws straight lines with crooked sticks. A God who hears the cries of the broken, even when they're the ones who broke themselves. A God who keeps his promises, even when we don't keep ours. And that's what this passage is really about. It's not only about Jeroboam or Israel, but it's about God, a God who is rich in mercy, a God who works through deeply flawed people for deeply good purposes, a God who never forgets his people, even when they forget him.

So what do you do with that? Well, I hope you don't ignore it. I hope you don't minimize it. I hope it moves you. Let it reshape the way that you see others and yourself. A friend of mine recently gave a eulogy for a man he'd met through a recovery program, someone who had battled serious addiction. He'd been in and out of prison. He carried a long, painful past. But near the end of his life, this man gave his life to Jesus. At the funeral,

my friend shared what that moment meant. He reminded everyone there that because of the grace of God, what mattered most about this man's life was not his years of drug addiction and imprisonment, but that he was a beloved child of God. When God's mercy shows up, it rewrites our whole story. That's the gospel. Not that we clean ourselves. up and earn God's favor, but that Jesus meets us in our mess and offers us mercy anyway. That's why we can't look at stories like Jeroboims and scoff. We have to look at them and see ourselves in those stories, and then see Jesus, the one who took our place, who bore our sin, who gave us his righteousness. So this week, live like someone who's been rescued. Show mercy to others because

you've been shown mercy by God. Let go of the pride that wants credit for your successes. Let go of the bitterness that you experience because God has blessed people who don't deserve it. Well, you don't deserve his blessings either. None of us do. He's been far better to us than we deserve. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your mercy. Thank you that you love us in our weakness. You rescue us in our rebellion. Forgive us for the pride that takes credit and the bitterness that withholds compassion. Make us people shaped by grace. Gentle, humble, grateful. Help us to to never forget that our story only makes sense because of Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen.