Most High Place

The high places, however, were not removed, and the people still had not set their hearts on the God of their ancestors.

2 Chronicles 20:33, NIV

Every time I read in 2 Chronicles of the ups and downs of kings either leading God’s people down a good path or clearly heading along a destructive one, I find myself cheering under my breath for the ruler and his people to choose God! “Choose the best! Choose to follow God’s plan! There is no higher place than the Most High God!” Sometimes I get so caught up in the story, I start getting anxious and say in my heart, Uh-oh, don’t go! Don’t go there. Don’t go up to those high places where the pagan shrines are located.

Time after time in the Bible, we find that high, mountaintop sites were used as places to erect shrines to man-made gods. In erecting these shrines, the people were breaking the first of God’s Ten Commandments that He gave to Moses: “You must not have any other god but me” (Exodus 20:3).

The books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles list the kings of Judah and the kings of Israel. It appears that most of their downfalls resulted because they did not remove the high places that were dedicated to false gods!

If we are wise, you and I should desire our Most High God to hold the most high place in our hearts. Anything else we worship will eventually bring destruction to our lives, as well as to those we love. We may not notice the disastrous effects right away, but they will come, just as they did to the kings in the Bible who worshiped idols. God Most High always must be number one in our hearts.

“Lord, is there anything that I have set high in my heart besides You alone? You are the Most High God. I reserve the highest place in my life for You!”