So much has happened in the last week: Hillary Clinton’s lies concerning national security secrets have been completely buried, first by an illegal meeting between her husband and the Attorney General, and then by shutting up the FBI agents with formal non-disclosure agreements. A Supreme Court justice broke every precedent in history by openly taunting an entire major political party and its presumptive nominee and told exactly how she would vote on certain cases if they come to the Court. The President blamed old-fashioned racial bias at their memorial service for the murder of five policemen, while utterly failing to identify the enemy among us as Islamic terrorism and at the same time leaving the enemy at the gates free to come after us through illegal immigration. And now, the media salivates over the prospect of a bitterly divided Republican Convention, where long-standing rules are to be thrown out in order to usurp the primary victories of a man who scares both parties to death because every-day hard-working Americans like his forthrightness.
It is easy to be very afraid for America these days.
But faith matters. As I approached the Word of God for my weekly study for this blog, behold, the very next sequence in 2 Kings tells of another leader who had a conflicted convention: Hezekiah.
After a disastrous series of kings before him in both Judah and Israel, Hezekiah returns to what is right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David did. He eliminates the high places for worship of false gods; trusts completely in the Lord; holds fast to the Lord; does not depart from following him; and keeps the Lord’s commandments to Moses. As a result of addressing God’s highest priorities, the Lord is with him wherever he goes; he prospers; and he rebels against a conquering foreign king and refuses to serve him (18:3-7).
When the Assyrians arrive at Hezekiah’s gates, they taunt and mock the God of Israel, claiming that Judah's God is no different than the gods of all the other surrounding nations, who failed to protect their people from the Assyrians and claiming that the God of Israel had sent Assyria against Judah to destroy them. These taunts are delivered loudly at the walls of Jerusalem where all the people congregate in a convention of chaos to hear the insults from a political outsider.
But Hezekiah’s priorities are the same as God’s, just as David’s were. Hezekiah goes into deep repentance visible by the whole convention and then seeks the counsel of the mighty prophet of God named Isaiah, who proclaims:
4 “It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words…his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.”[1]
Read God’s response to Hezekiah’s prayer in Chapter 19:20-34 – it is more than worth your time today.
God is using this enemy king of Assyria for judgment against the tribe of Israel for its gross idolatry and disobedience. But for Hezekiah, this devoted king of Judah in perfect unity with God, who sincerely keeps God’s highest priorities after the model of David, God will defend and save their land.
Are we, those who pray to the God of Israel and his son Jesus Christ, the remnant of God’s highest priorities in America? Yes. We can expect judgment, but also God’s never-ending love!
We must not fear what looks like conventions of chaos and other disastrous political events coming our way. Quite the contrary, if we hold fast to Jesus and his commandments in the remnant of prayer, he will save our land. We can then sit back and watch how he judges those who have stolen our Constitution and the rule of law and how he uses foreign leaders to fool them.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (2 Ki 19:4). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
It is easy to be very afraid for America these days.
But faith matters. As I approached the Word of God for my weekly study for this blog, behold, the very next sequence in 2 Kings tells of another leader who had a conflicted convention: Hezekiah.
After a disastrous series of kings before him in both Judah and Israel, Hezekiah returns to what is right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David did. He eliminates the high places for worship of false gods; trusts completely in the Lord; holds fast to the Lord; does not depart from following him; and keeps the Lord’s commandments to Moses. As a result of addressing God’s highest priorities, the Lord is with him wherever he goes; he prospers; and he rebels against a conquering foreign king and refuses to serve him (18:3-7).
When the Assyrians arrive at Hezekiah’s gates, they taunt and mock the God of Israel, claiming that Judah's God is no different than the gods of all the other surrounding nations, who failed to protect their people from the Assyrians and claiming that the God of Israel had sent Assyria against Judah to destroy them. These taunts are delivered loudly at the walls of Jerusalem where all the people congregate in a convention of chaos to hear the insults from a political outsider.
But Hezekiah’s priorities are the same as God’s, just as David’s were. Hezekiah goes into deep repentance visible by the whole convention and then seeks the counsel of the mighty prophet of God named Isaiah, who proclaims:
4 “It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words…his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.”[1]
Read God’s response to Hezekiah’s prayer in Chapter 19:20-34 – it is more than worth your time today.
God is using this enemy king of Assyria for judgment against the tribe of Israel for its gross idolatry and disobedience. But for Hezekiah, this devoted king of Judah in perfect unity with God, who sincerely keeps God’s highest priorities after the model of David, God will defend and save their land.
Are we, those who pray to the God of Israel and his son Jesus Christ, the remnant of God’s highest priorities in America? Yes. We can expect judgment, but also God’s never-ending love!
We must not fear what looks like conventions of chaos and other disastrous political events coming our way. Quite the contrary, if we hold fast to Jesus and his commandments in the remnant of prayer, he will save our land. We can then sit back and watch how he judges those who have stolen our Constitution and the rule of law and how he uses foreign leaders to fool them.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (2 Ki 19:4). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
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