Stop hitting yourself.

Have you ever played the ‘game,’ “Stop hitting yourself.”  I put it in quotes because it’s hard to call it a game.  One person grabs another person’s arm and swings it so that they hit themselves.  They they say, “Stop hitting yourself.  Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself,” over and over again as they swing the person’s hand to hit himself in the face.  It’s not really a game and, if you’ve ever been a part of the ‘game,’ it’s not really funny either.

Nadab son of Jeroboam began to rule over Israel in the second year of King Asa's reign in Judah. He reigned in Israel two years. But he did what was evil in the LORD's sight and followed the example of his father, continuing the sins that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit. (1 Kings 15:25-26 NLT)

That’s all I could think about when I read the passages of Scripture we were going to be covering this week.  Israel (the tribes of the north) are going to go through a series of kings that lead for relatively short periods of time.  Each of these kings are going to do “evil in the LORD’s sight.”  Each of them are going to bring more pain upon the northern tribes of Israel than the king before them.  These kings, and their followers, keep hitting themselves.  Only they are not being forced by another person moving their arms.

Then Baasha son of Ahijah, from the tribe of Issachar, plotted against Nadab and assassinated him while he and the Israelite army were laying siege to the Philistine town of Gibbethon. Baasha killed Nadab in the third year of King Asa's reign in Judah… (1 Kings 15:27-28 NLT)

How about you?  Do you see times in your life that you “hit yourself” and make things worse than they were before?  Do you blame others for “grabbing your arm” and making you hit yourself?  Do you sometimes “hit yourself” without help from anyone else?  Are you doing it now?  Are you ready to stop hitting yourself?