When I sat down to read some scripture tonight I opened my Bible to the book of 2 Kings. For many years in my Christian life, I didn't read the Old Testament. I realize now how much I was missing out! After all that God has taught me through the Old Testament scriptures I am now a lover of the Old Testament. In fact, I would say that I've studied it more than the New in the past few years. The truths I've learned about God and His character have transformed my life.
Now, back to 2 Kings. Tonight I read the story of King Hezekiah. Hezekiah ruled the Southern Kingdom of Judah for 29 years. It was during Hezekiah's reign that the Northern Kingdom of Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians and deported. Assyria then set its sights on the Southern Kingdom of Judah, and its king.
As I began to read how scripture characterized Hezekiah, here are the attributes that struck me:
2 Kings 18:5 "Hezekiah trusted in the LORD the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow Him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him."
Lets look at these verses in more detail. First of all, it is no accident that the first thing listed about Hezekiah is his faith.
HEZEKIAH TRUSTED IN THE LORD THE GOD OF ISRAEL.
Not only do we see this statement of commendation, but we also see the FRUIT of Hezekiah's faith:
1) He held fast to the LORD
The Hebrew here literally means "to cling to, to be united, to cleave, to be stuck together." Hezekiah hung to the LORD for all he had. Think about what Hezekiah's heart attitude had to have been like in order to desire God in such a way that he clung to Him for dear life. He was stuck on God.
2) He did not cease to follow Him
If you think about it, this to is an amazing fruit of the faith Hezekiah had in God. He followed God wholeheartedly and consistently. As I ponder my own life and choices, I can't honestly say that I've always followed God. I definitely detoured from the path for a period of my life. My detour wasn't what you'd think. I didn't decide to try all of the pleasures the world can offer. Instead, I just began to act as though following Him and clinging to Him wasn't all that important. Doing things my way seemed more comfortable.
3) He kept the commands the LORD had given to Moses
The word here for "kept" really means: "to keep, to observe for oneself, to cling to, be secured"
Did you know that the NEW Testament is full of commands for the believer in Christ? Yes, Christ has set us free from the law, but Jesus Christ gave some pretty clear commands. The first and foremost is found in Mark 12:30-31: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength...and love your neighbor as yourself." Have I kept that command? Paul's epistles are full of commands for the Christian i.e. Follower of Christ. In different letters, God, through Paul, Peter, James and John, tells us that we should: be humble, be patient, be doers of good, live in the light, avoid sexual impurity, be slow to speak and slow to anger, pray continually, be thankful in all circumstances, give to the poor, forgive one another, be gentle, don't use foul language, come together in fellowship regularly, be doers of the word and not hearers only....
Of course, all of these should not be followed with a legalistic attitude. Jesus Christ rebuked the Pharisees for such behavior, because they weren't following the law for the right reasons. LOVE compels us to keep His commands. Love that is fueled by Faith. Faith is the key to keeping God's commands.
4) He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
It is very clear that Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, did not serve God. In fact, he despised God and openly rebukes God to the Hebrew people. So, if he didn't serve God, then who did he serve? Okay everybody, now is the time for a Sunday School answer. Everybody, all together now---Satan. The Bible makes it clear that we cannot serve two masters. We either serve God by trusting and obeying Him, or we serve Satan by doubting God and walking in our own path. As I read the rest of Chapters 18-19 in 2 Kings, I became so aware that ultimately this was a spiritual battle. The King of Assyria was out to put doubt in the minds of the Hebrew people. Over and over again he taunts them and says that their God cannot deliver them from the armies of Assyria and the king's power. Hezekiah refuses to listen.
Did you know that we actually get the green light to rebel against someone? Alright all you teenagers out there, put your rebelling to good use! We can REBEL against Satan and REFUSE to serve him.
If you look back in the chapter toward the beginning, you see that Hezekiah tore down ALL of the idols and "high places" where idol worship took place. Many kings before Hezekiah obeyed God and did good, but they never tore down or destroyed these places of idol worship. If you look at the preceding kings, those who "did right in the eyes of the LORD" did not cleanse their kingdom but instead: "The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there." Not Hezekiah. He rebelled against Satan and would not serve him.
Wow! If that isn't faith in action I don't know what is!
So, these are the questions that come to my mind as I consider these verses and have prayed to God about what he taught me:
1) Would I describe myself as a person who clings to God and never ceases to follow Him? What actions or false beliefs are hindering me from being described this way?
For example, if I am believing the lie that God really doesn't love me, my actions will reflect what I believe. I will choose other ways to "earn" love from others and I won't follow Christ.
2) Am I keeping Christ's commands? Do I want to keep His commands?? If I am keeping them, what is my motivation for following them? Is it love or legalism?
(As I ponder the actions that come from legalism, I think that many of us have to be very careful that the sin of pride doesn't rear its ugly head. If you keep reading Hezekiah's story, you will see that pride is his downfall. It is not only his downfall, but ultimately the downfall of the entire southern kingdom. If we are haughty and holier-than-thou, we are not rebelling against Satan. Instead, we are cooperating with him. Be on guard for a prideful, legalistic attitude.)
3) Is there an area of my life where I am believing the lies and doubts that the enemy is shouting out at me daily? (Read 2 Kings 18:17-36 for more insight.) One of the verses I absolutely love from this passage is 2 Kings 19:14. Sennacherib sends a second message to Hezekiah saying: "Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, 'Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.' Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered?" Can you believe such insolence toward our God?? (Actually, it happens everyday on our television!) When Hezekiah receives this message this is what he does: "Hezekiah received the letter..and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD."
I love the description that Hezekiah spread out the lies and insults of the enemy before the LORD. How many of us go before God and just spread it all out before him and hold no secret back! How many of us tell him about our struggles with areas of sin and oppression from our enemy (Satan)?
We need to follow Hezekiah's example here. God knows about all of our stuff anyway, we might as well confess it to Him out loud and ask for help!
Hezekiah ends his prayer with these words, "It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, FOR THEY WERE NOT GODS but only wood and stone, fashioned by mens' hands. Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God."
There you have it. A fine example of a prayer of faith. Does God answer his prayer of faith? If you want to know the end to this story, just read the rest of chapter 19!
4) Is there sin in my own life and in the lives of others that I condone? In what areas have I let society and the reasoning mind of humans dictate what I should believe? Lets all think about that one long and hard. Think about what it truly means to follow Christ and cling to Him. Jesus made it clear that we are not of the world, and the world will hate us, because it hates God. The Hebrew people in this story did not cave in and believe the insults and lies Sennacherib was throwing out at them about Hezekiah and their God. Hezekiah refused to believe his lies.
Fellow Christian. You have an enemy. He is real. His purpose is not only to make you doubt God. He seeks to "kill, steal, and destroy." He wants to destroy your effectiveness for God. He wants to destroy your reputation, your family, your godly friendships, your walk with God. If he can get you to doubt anything about God (his character, his provision, his love, his holiness), then you are cooperating with him instead of rebelling against him. I know, I've been there.
If you are reading this and haven't accepted Christ: you have an enemy. He is real. His purpose is to keep you from coming to know Christ through faith. He will put every doubt possible in your mind so that you don't come to Christ. Faith is the key to salvation. Satan does not want you saved. Doubt is his primary tool.
My prayer is that we will stop believing the lies, stop doubting God and begin to trust in the LORD the God of Israel. Like Hezekiah, let our faith in God be our most defining attribute. I REALLY want it to be said of me: "KRISTIN TRUSTED IN THE LORD THE GOD OF ISRAEL. She held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow Him. She kept all the commands the LORD has given. She rebelled against Satan and did not serve him."
It all boils down to faith.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Our God is Faithful
If anyone reading this blog is in a period of doubt about the faithfulness of our God and how much he loves us, I hope this posting will encourage you. Our God is a God of details. He is interested in every aspect of our lives and loves us deeply. He blesses obedience that comes from faith. I'm not saying that there are not challenges and difficulties that come even when we do step out in faith. A life lived by faith is not an easy one. But after this week, I am convinced even more of His faithfulness. My faith has been deepened and I am convinced of His love and grace.
For those who have followed this blog from the beginning, you will remember how I wrote about Spiritual markers--times on your life when you can look back and see a move of God in your life that was a faith builder. Well, the events of this week have been a marker. Yet again, God has, in His grace, demonstrated his faithfulness to me.
Last Saturday, Allen and I went up to Decorah, Iowa to find a place to live, a preschool for Caroline, and to get a feel for the town that we will soon call home. There is absolutely no doubt that the decision to move our family to Iowa has been a huge leap of faith. (See the last couple of blogs for details!) We essentially had 4 days to accomplish these tasks, along with some meetings with various Luther faculty.
Up until this point, we were fairly sure that God had called us to Decorah. But, there is always this small part of you that wonders, "Are we really making the right decision?" I had not been to Decorah, yet, so I was really anxious to see the town, and Allen was anxious for me to see it. He wanted so much for me to like it.
We opted to drive in from Minneapolis/ St. Paul, and once we were about an hour outside of Decorah, the landscape became absolutely beautiful. It was like the gorgeous valleys of the English countryside.
The town itself is absolutely beautiful. It will be a place where we can often just sit and marvel at God's creation. I'm really looking forward to that!
So, on Sunday after we attended church at First Lutheran, we began our house search. We met with our realtor for the first time. He is a guy about my age with a lovely young family. As we began talking with him, we discovered that he and his wife had gone through much the same thing a few years back. They had moved to Decorah from Chicago. Allen and I had a very positive experience with him and I believed that God had specifically led us to Mark. That being said, Sunday was not fun. We looked at several houses all over the town and even 10 miles outside of town. We knew the housing market would be different than Texas, but we were a bit discouraged. Surprisingly, you can get more house for your money here in Texas than there in Iowa. Any house that we looked at in our price range just wasn't going to work for us in terms of space and layout. But, even in the midst of a hard day, I had a strong sense of peace. When doubt began to flood my mind, I chose to trust God.
The one thing we came away with on Sunday was a surety about the neighborhood in which we wanted to live. The problem is, houses in this area are more expensive.
Monday morning, we looked at two additional homes and became really excited about one in particular. It was a little small, and at the very top of our price range, but it seemed to be the only choice. So, at the end of the day, we decided that we would go back on Tuesday, look it over, and make an offer. In order to buy this house, I was probably going to have to work, and we would have to sacrifice a lot in terms of space (no guest bedroom, only one bathroom, etc.). It also wasn't really in the neighborhood we had hoped for, and some painting would be required.
Tuesday morning came and we were ready to move forward. Mark picked us up and told us that another house had just come on the market that very day within his own firm. Every week, all the realtors at his firm meet to talk about listings. One of his colleagues talked about this new listing and Mark said that he reached for the paper with urgency. It was a house that was in our price range, with more square footage, fully updated, AND in our desired neighborhood. He drove us by on the way to the other house we were planning to buy and we agreed to see it later that day. Let me just clarify that if we had been with any other realtor outside of that particular firm, we very likely wouldn't have seen the house in time. Its possible, but unlikely. The house had not been publicly announced to other real estate companies in town.
Well, needless to say, as we walked through the house, we knew it was the one. Let me just list how God provided: (If you want to see pictures, look on my Facebook Profile page)
1) It has 4 bedrooms and all are big enough for our current furniture
2) It even has a play room for the girls
3) All of the walls were painted exactly like I would want in my own house and the colors the current owners have chosen match our PERFECTLY. We will not have to paint inside the house at all.
4) It is move in ready. No updating needed. All new appliances. New electric.
5) It has new centrail air and heat! (This is actually kind of rare up there!!!) The other house we looked at had radiators in all the rooms
6) It is right in the middle of the neighborhood we desired the most and just a 4 minute walk from a magnificent park for the girls.
7) We are getting it for a fabulous price that we can afford. I can still stay home with the girls.
At this point, we had looked at many homes in Decorah--none of which met all of these. We had resigned ourselves to making some sacrifices and then God amazingly provides us with more than we could have asked or imagined. We don't deserve such a perfect house--but out of his lovingkindness, He has provided it. As I look back at the timing, the realtor, and the ordering of events--God's fingerprints are all over it!
I see it as a "confirming" of His call.
I can now say without a doubt--WITHOUT A DOUBT---that God has called us to Decorah, Iowa.
The visit this week has taught us many things about our future in this little town. We will be challenged. We will have to be bold and speak the truth in love. There will be challenges. But, God has confirmed His call. He is our provider--Jehovah Jireh.
So, all this to say: If you are facing a choice that requires a great amount of faith and sacrifice, take the leap of faith. It is so worth it. You will see God work in ways you never dreamed possible. Trust Him. He loves his children so much.
For those who have followed this blog from the beginning, you will remember how I wrote about Spiritual markers--times on your life when you can look back and see a move of God in your life that was a faith builder. Well, the events of this week have been a marker. Yet again, God has, in His grace, demonstrated his faithfulness to me.
Last Saturday, Allen and I went up to Decorah, Iowa to find a place to live, a preschool for Caroline, and to get a feel for the town that we will soon call home. There is absolutely no doubt that the decision to move our family to Iowa has been a huge leap of faith. (See the last couple of blogs for details!) We essentially had 4 days to accomplish these tasks, along with some meetings with various Luther faculty.
Up until this point, we were fairly sure that God had called us to Decorah. But, there is always this small part of you that wonders, "Are we really making the right decision?" I had not been to Decorah, yet, so I was really anxious to see the town, and Allen was anxious for me to see it. He wanted so much for me to like it.
We opted to drive in from Minneapolis/ St. Paul, and once we were about an hour outside of Decorah, the landscape became absolutely beautiful. It was like the gorgeous valleys of the English countryside.
The town itself is absolutely beautiful. It will be a place where we can often just sit and marvel at God's creation. I'm really looking forward to that!
So, on Sunday after we attended church at First Lutheran, we began our house search. We met with our realtor for the first time. He is a guy about my age with a lovely young family. As we began talking with him, we discovered that he and his wife had gone through much the same thing a few years back. They had moved to Decorah from Chicago. Allen and I had a very positive experience with him and I believed that God had specifically led us to Mark. That being said, Sunday was not fun. We looked at several houses all over the town and even 10 miles outside of town. We knew the housing market would be different than Texas, but we were a bit discouraged. Surprisingly, you can get more house for your money here in Texas than there in Iowa. Any house that we looked at in our price range just wasn't going to work for us in terms of space and layout. But, even in the midst of a hard day, I had a strong sense of peace. When doubt began to flood my mind, I chose to trust God.
The one thing we came away with on Sunday was a surety about the neighborhood in which we wanted to live. The problem is, houses in this area are more expensive.
Monday morning, we looked at two additional homes and became really excited about one in particular. It was a little small, and at the very top of our price range, but it seemed to be the only choice. So, at the end of the day, we decided that we would go back on Tuesday, look it over, and make an offer. In order to buy this house, I was probably going to have to work, and we would have to sacrifice a lot in terms of space (no guest bedroom, only one bathroom, etc.). It also wasn't really in the neighborhood we had hoped for, and some painting would be required.
Tuesday morning came and we were ready to move forward. Mark picked us up and told us that another house had just come on the market that very day within his own firm. Every week, all the realtors at his firm meet to talk about listings. One of his colleagues talked about this new listing and Mark said that he reached for the paper with urgency. It was a house that was in our price range, with more square footage, fully updated, AND in our desired neighborhood. He drove us by on the way to the other house we were planning to buy and we agreed to see it later that day. Let me just clarify that if we had been with any other realtor outside of that particular firm, we very likely wouldn't have seen the house in time. Its possible, but unlikely. The house had not been publicly announced to other real estate companies in town.
Well, needless to say, as we walked through the house, we knew it was the one. Let me just list how God provided: (If you want to see pictures, look on my Facebook Profile page)
1) It has 4 bedrooms and all are big enough for our current furniture
2) It even has a play room for the girls
3) All of the walls were painted exactly like I would want in my own house and the colors the current owners have chosen match our PERFECTLY. We will not have to paint inside the house at all.
4) It is move in ready. No updating needed. All new appliances. New electric.
5) It has new centrail air and heat! (This is actually kind of rare up there!!!) The other house we looked at had radiators in all the rooms
6) It is right in the middle of the neighborhood we desired the most and just a 4 minute walk from a magnificent park for the girls.
7) We are getting it for a fabulous price that we can afford. I can still stay home with the girls.
At this point, we had looked at many homes in Decorah--none of which met all of these. We had resigned ourselves to making some sacrifices and then God amazingly provides us with more than we could have asked or imagined. We don't deserve such a perfect house--but out of his lovingkindness, He has provided it. As I look back at the timing, the realtor, and the ordering of events--God's fingerprints are all over it!
I see it as a "confirming" of His call.
I can now say without a doubt--WITHOUT A DOUBT---that God has called us to Decorah, Iowa.
The visit this week has taught us many things about our future in this little town. We will be challenged. We will have to be bold and speak the truth in love. There will be challenges. But, God has confirmed His call. He is our provider--Jehovah Jireh.
So, all this to say: If you are facing a choice that requires a great amount of faith and sacrifice, take the leap of faith. It is so worth it. You will see God work in ways you never dreamed possible. Trust Him. He loves his children so much.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
