The last two days we've talked about King Solomon and how he walked and talked with God, and asked Him for wisdom, and to always hear the prayers of His people as they cried out for forgiveness. Overall, the rest of the time of the kings is not such a positive story. After Solomon the kingdom divided, with the Northern Kingdom taking the fast-track away from God. I Kings 22 gives us a telling snapshot of what things were like:

51 Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. 52 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 53 He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done. 

Ahaziah, like many of the kings of Israel and Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, not walking and talking with God, but walking in the sinful ways of their wicked ancestors.  Ahaziah "provoked the Lord to anger in every way."  The result? When Ahaziah died he had no ancestors to leave on the throne. The surrounding nations began to rip Israel apart, every attempt to reunite Israel and Judah failed, and a generation later the Northern kingdom of Israel was taken into exile.  Who are we going to be? The ones who walk and talk with God, seeking His wisdom and calling out for forgiveness? Or those who do as we feel, ignoring God, trusting in everyone and everything else, leaving a legacy of disaster? Something for us to walk and talk with God about today.