1 Kings 16:25 Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil than all who were before him. For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in the sins that he made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.
1 Kings 16:29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him
1 Kings 14:9 but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back,
Micah 6:16 For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people.
We can see the way sin creeps into a nation and affects the people. There is a progression and it is not for the better. Jeroboam started them down a watered down bath of lukewarm following after God by trying to serve both God and man-made idols. Their hearts were divided. And so the decline started and the snowball rolling down the path away from God gained speed. We see Omri doing more harm than those before him and his son Ahab doing more harm than his father. Ahab married Jezebel and went further away from God.
When we take neutral stands on moral wrongs and even start embracing those things that are clearly not honoring or glorifying God, there are reasons these things occur in our lives. Primarily it happens when we lose the desire to humbly serve and honor God. It happens when we let the busyness of life overtake our heart and mind. It happens when we no longer hunger and thirst for His word. It happens when we neglect our time with Him and become complacent in our want to grow in understanding and knowledge of God and His love for us demonstrated through Jesus Christ. It happens when we start comparing ourselves against others and thinking we are good enough and not spending time in His word. It happens when we no longer seek His leading in our daily life. It happens when we water down sin and try to make sense of why what we are doing is not that bad. It happens when we get comfortable with our current state of following and obeying Him. It happens when we no longer see a need for growth. It happens when we close our ears and close our heart to what God is speaking.
No matter what we think, it is a conscious choice to step away from God’s word and neglect His leading. It is a conscious choice to no longer seek Him, honor Him, serve Him, follow Him, obey Him, and trust Him. These conscious choices are what waters down our walk with Him and are the very things we try to justify in our daily walk. There is not justification and there is no time this is right. It is always wrong and will always lead to paths that take us further and further away from God.
