The Noontimes

2 Kings 21: Wicked Kings 

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Written on May 17, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite . . .

It is easy to blame problems on wicked or ineffective leaders. It is also easy to fault ourselves and to blame our own incapabilities or weaknesses.  To explain evil by blaming others or selves is a constant human occupation; yet, it need not be so. There is always an option open to us when confronted with insurmountable obstacles or “wicked kings” of any kind. Our trouble is that when we find ourselves in the throes of conflict we cannot see the simplest of solutions, the solution which is always open to the faithful – calling on the power of God.

The faithful who find a path of serenity amidst the turmoil and deception that surrounds them practice a simple formula which we might examine: the faithful pray intercessory petitions for those who are wicked, they trust God with their woe and their joy, they practice prudence, temperance, compassion and mercy.

Scripture always brings us the same story: God’s desire to be with the creatures he has created, God’s yearning to be one with all, God’s willingness to sacrifice self to bring his faithful to intimate union with him. Peace and justice will prevail when the faithful see and hear this Word of God. Serenity is achieved when the Word is practiced, lived, and is made part of what we think, say and do. God might choose to make all of us good instead of stubborn and stiff-necked; but if God were to do this, God would take away our own freedom to choose good over evil. And God so loves us that God wants us to choose God, just as God has chosen us.

We need not fear wicked kings; rather, we must pray for their healing and conversion. We must pray for their change of heart, for the unstiffening of their necks for it is in this way that we will find our own blessed center, our highest potential, our best self, the place where we are one with God.

Perhaps this is the gift of wicked kings. They bring us to our own best hope. They bring us to the Word. They bring us to God.

A re-post from September 13, 2011.

Image from: http://colombomusium.blogspot.com/2010/04/colombo-museum.html