A mother is one of the most sacred parts of the family system.  And when a young man dies on the battle field, it is often his mama that he cries out for as he is dying.  There’s something deeply sacred about our moms.

That’s why it is so hard to ever go against what a mother might advise or instruct.  It’s terribly painful and affects us to our core.  And yet if our mothers give us advice that is against the Lord’s ways, the Lord comes first.

Ahaziah, the new king of Judah,  couldn’t do it.  He couldn’t go against his mother.

“He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother gave him evil advice” (2 Chr 22:3).

She probably meant well.  But she was not following in the ways of the Lord.  I’m sure what she believed sounded good, but it wasn’t of God.  It was “to his destruction” that Ahaziah followed these evil ways.

Because of his actions and partnering with evil, Ahaziah was killed after only reigning one year in Jerusalem.  Guess who became “king” in his place?  Mom.  And what was her first action?  Killing all of her grandchildren so that there would be no royal heirs left (2 Chr 22:10).

This woman was evil.

This was the woman that Ahaziah couldn’t say ‘no’ to.  Because she was someone he loved.

Sometimes following the Lord means not following our family.  And that’s tough.   Really hard.  But it is better to follow the Lord.

And how does one or even a nation get to the point where a woman like this becomes leader and ruler?  A woman filled with so much evil that she would kill her own grandchildren?  Her own grandchildren! 

It comes when we harden our heart to the ways of the Lord.

It’s a slow fade.