But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion and showed concern for them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To this day he has been unwilling to destroy them or banish them from his presence.
2 Kings 13:23 (NIV)

This past summer, I experienced a moment that I once thought would never arrive. As our family gathered for a rare vacation together, our daughter acknowledged and apologized for what she put Wendy and me through as a teenager.

I don’t want to overblow the truth or make it sound worse than it was. On the spectrum of teen and young adult rebellion, hers was relatively minor. That doesn’t mean, however, that it was easy. She was angry about the divorce that split our family when she was at an impressionable age. She was angry about me getting remarried. I honestly had to give her that. And, on top of it, she had the normal blind spots and foolish notions that come with the teen and early twenties years. She made stupid mistakes. She refused to listen. For many years, I wondered if I would ever enjoy a truly positive relationship with my daughter again.

One of the things I always look for on this chapter-a-day trek is patterns. Patterns are important throughout the Great Story. Sometimes I see them within a chapter, but they often appear across chapters and books. Today’s chapter tells the stories of two kings of the northern Kingdom of Israel, Jehoahaz and Jehoash. Both stories begin with the same line:

“He did evil in the eyes of the Lord by following the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit, and he did not turn away from them.” (vs. 2)

But, it’s not just these two kings of Israel. This has been the pattern from the moment the kingdom split in two after the reign of Solomon. Jehoahaz and Jehoash are the 11th and 12th kings of Israel, and every single one of them “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” That’s a sad pattern.

And it makes it even more striking when in today’s chapter it says God “was gracious to them and had compassion and showed concern for them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To this day he has been unwilling to destroy them or banish them from his presence.“

There are three key, but different Hebrew words used in this verse:

• Chanan: To show grace or favor.
• Racham: To have compassion or mercy.
• Panah: To turn toward or regard someone.

The third verb is especially evocative. God turns toward his rebellious, suffering people rather than turning away. This is not the God of angry condemnation – of fire and brimstone that people mistakenly assume Him to be. This is God who sees, cares, and responds. It is a long-suffering Father who refuses to give up on loving His rebellious child.

Israel’s kings keep repeating the same mistakes. They inherit the same destructive traditions. They refuse to dismantle the same idols. They cry out to God when life becomes unbearable, receive his mercy, and then drift back into their old patterns.

As I meditated on the chapter, I could almost hear the exasperation: Seriously?Again?

And yet…that verse. God is gracious. God has compassion. God turns toward them. Not because they’ve finally gotten everything right. Not because they’ve earned another chance. Because of His covenant.

There’s a beautiful distinction between God’s faithfulness and mine. My faithfulness fluctuates with circumstances, emotions, distractions, and desires. God’s faithfulness rests in his own character. And, in the quiet this morning, I wonder how often I make the mistake of projecting my own inconsistency onto him.

When I’m disappointed in myself (and that happens a lot), I assume God must be disappointed enough to turn away. When I’ve repeated an old failure, I assume God’s patience must finally be exhausted. When I’ve wandered, I assume the distance between God and me is equal to the distance God has moved away from me.

But today’s chapter tells me something different. God continues turning toward his people. His grace does not eliminate the consequences of their choices. Eventually, those consequences will be devastating. But his mercy remains astonishingly persistent.

Which brings me back to our daughter. I was not a perfect parent by any stretch of the imagination, but through her years of angry rebellion, I purposed to remain present. I did my best to keep loving – to keep being gracious – just like God was with Israel. It didn’t guarantee an outcome, but in this particular case, I’m happy to say it was a good one.

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