I wrote yesterday about starting to read the chronology of the kings of Israel and Judah. Zimri, one of the early kings of Israel grabbed my attention. See what you see:

In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned two years. But his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. When he was at Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah, Zimri came in and struck him down and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place. When he began to reign, as soon as he had seated himself on his throne, he struck down all the house of Baasha… In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. (1 Kings 16.8 – 20, ESV)

Whoa! Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Not seven years. Not seven months. Seven days! He went to all the trouble to assassinate Elah the previous king and kill all of Elah’s family (the house of Baasha) so his (Zimri’s) kingdom would be secure, and he reigned seven days.

Power is temporary, sometimes very temporary! Life is temporary. Best we follow God today.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4.13 – 17, ESV)