Day 182: The Inescapable God (2026)

The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)

Fr. Mike Schmitz explores 2 Kings 16 and the prophet Micah, highlighting King Ahaz's apostasy, Assyrian alliance, and prophetic judgment on Judah. He emphasizes God’s inescapable presence and ultimate restoration through

Key takeaways

• Ahaz’s reliance on Assyria led to spiritual decline and future destruction.

Transcript preview

Hi my name's Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Bible in a year podcast where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a year podcast is brought to you by ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 182 we are reading from 2nd Kings chapter 16 from mica, chapter 1, 3 and we're also praying Psalm my favorite Psalms in the Bible. I have a lot of favorites I guess, but we also are introduced to the prophet Micah which is pretty phenomenal. Micah is a contemporary of Isaiah in the whole Testament and he is prophesying not just to the people of Israel, he's prophesying to the people of Judah as well. He's prophesying to all of God's people and calling them back to repentance telling him what's gonna happen if they don't repent and don't back to the Lord sounds like a prophet he is. So we are reading from mica from mica 1st As always the Bible translation that I am reading from is the revised standard version the second Catholic edition I'm using the great adventure Bible from ascension if you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan you can visit ascension press dot com slash Bible in a year and if you want to you can subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe as I said it's day 182 and I think that that means when you're halfway through this today's readings you will be halfway through the entire Bible is that accurate when it comes math 365 that sounds right is that good math maybe maybe it is good math if it is good math then hey congratulations this is the midpoint well not yet in the middle of this day it'll be the midpoint so go you congratulations everybody this is a phenomenal I mean I sorry not go you go us because this is the team this is the folks who have been faithful on this for for the last 182 days so I'm what a gift to be able to walk with y'all here we are day 3 and 4 and 4 and praying Psalm 139. The 2nd Book of Kings, Chapter 16. Ahaz reigns over Judah. In the 17th year of Pekha, the son of Ramalia, the son of Jotham, King of Judah, began to reign. Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reined 16 years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God as his father David had done, but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son, he burned his son, he as an offering according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. Then Raizin, the King of Syria, and Pekha, the son of Ramalia, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. At that time the King of Edam, recovered Eelath for Edam, and drove the men of Judah from Eelath. And the Edith, and the Edith, and the Edith, and the Edith, and the Edith, and the Edith, and the Edith, and the Edith, and the Edith, and the So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pielser, King of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the King of Syria and from the hand of the King of Israel who are attacking me. Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the King's house and sent a present to the King of Assyria. And the King of Assyria listened it to him. The King of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to cure to cure to cure to cure to cure to cure to cure to cure to cure to cure to cure to cure to cure to cure to When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pilser, King of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest, a model of the altar and its pattern exact in all its details. And Uriah the priest had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king, then the king drew near to the altar and went up on the altar. Then the altar. Then the king, then the king went up, and went up, then the king, and went up, and went up on the king, then the king, and went up on the king, and went up on the king, then the king, and went up on the altar, and went up on the altar, and went up on the altar. on it and burned his burnt offering and his cereal offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar. And the bronze altar which was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house from the house of the Lord and put it on the north side of his altar. And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest saying, Upon the great altar, burn the morning burnt offering and the evening cereal offering, and the king's burnt offering and his serial offering, with the burnt offering, with the burnt offering, with the burnt offering, with the burnt offering, with the people, of the land and their serial offering, and their drink offering, and throw upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by. Erya the priest did all this as King Ehaz commanded. And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the labor from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it upon a pediment of stone. And the covered way for the Sabbath, which had been the Sabbath which had been bideward way. built inside the palace in the outer entrance for the king he removed from the house of the Lord because the king of Assyria. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz, which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezakiah his son reigned in his stead. and Judah. The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moraheath in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezakaya, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Here at you people's all of you. Listen, O Earth, and all that is in it. And let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. For behold, the Lord is coming forth out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains will melt