Easy Come, Easy Go...

2 Kings Chps 18-20

King Hezekiah trusted in the Lord:

 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. ⁶ He held fast to the LORD and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. ⁷ 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. (Chp 18:5-7)

While he was successful, we must note that this success belongs to God and to God alone - we are not to claim it for our own glory.

In part because of Hezekiah's faithfulness to the Lord, God protects Israel from the Assyrians:

 ³⁵ That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! ³⁶ So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.(Chp 19:35-36)

And once again, Hezekiah is blessed by being healed:

⁴ Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: ⁵ “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD. ⁶ I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’” (Chp 20:4-6)

Yet, even as he is blessed, we learn that it is only through the grace of God alone, not through our own doing that we are blessed and in good fortune.  God can just as easily take it all away:

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD: ¹⁷ The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. ¹⁸ And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” (Chp 20:16-18)

My Prayer: Lord, I KNOW I am blessed...I am so blessed that cannot even acknowledge all the ways that I am blessed - there are too many.  It is because you love me and because all you do is because you love me.  Forgive me when I refuse to acknowledge your love for me or see you bless me.  Help me focus on how great you are, how blessed I am, and how I need to love you more, obey you more, follow you and seek you out more, desire you more and trust you more.  Help me with all of this Lord.

Aren't We Like the Israelites?

2 Kings 17

While one can easily read this chapter and judge the Israelites harshly for their sin in turning away from the Lord and worshiping other Gods.

Yet are we not like the Israelites?  I am certainly not free from sin and I have my idols.  I am just like the Israelites:

⁴⁰ They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. ⁴¹ Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did. (verse 40-41)

I desperately need Jesus, for it is only through Him that I can turn away from sin.  He is the one true God and I pray in earnest that I can be purified of my sin, trust in the Lord, love Him with all of my heart, and follow Him with all of my heart.

Yet Again....Our God Cares!

2 Kings 14

Our God is an awesome God (like the song goes), he reigns in heaven above...is Got not awesome or what.  While the circumstances of Israel during this time are not good and while the kings of the tribes of Israel are inconsistently obeying God (at best), God continues to honor his commitment for the Israelites.  When faced with suffering, God reaches out his caring hands and provides...

²⁶ The LORD had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering; there was no one to help them. ²⁷ And since the LORD had not said he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash.(verses 26-27)

For me, I constantly think about my own suffering and moan "woe is me".  Particularly about my job and the current stress I feel.  Implored by a recent sermon in Luke 12 by my Pastor Scott, I am called not to worry.  And here I see that God never stops watching over me and he knows when I am suffering. He loves me there is no doubt!

My Prayer: Lord, you DO love me and you DO care, especially when you see me suffering.  Forgive me for my worry and my lack of trust.  Help me lean on you, trust you, love you and gain strength from you. 

Our God Of Mercy

2 Kings 13

Even though the Israelites and their kings continue to do evil on the eyes of the Lord, God is gracious and full of mercy.

Note:

¹ In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years. ² He did evil in the eyes of the LORD by following the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit, and he did not turn away from them. (verses 1-2)

Yet, even though Jehoahaz does evil in the eyes of the Lord, the Lord is willing to "take him back":

⁴ Then Jehoahaz sought the LORD’s favor, and the LORD listened to him, for he saw how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel. ⁵ The LORD provided a deliverer for Israel, and they escaped from the power of Aram. So the Israelites lived in their own homes as they had before.(verses 4-5)

This cycle of sin and redemption seems to repeat itself (as we have seen many times).
¹⁰ In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years. ¹¹ He did evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he continued in them.(verses 10-11)

22 Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz. ²³ But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion and showed concern for them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To this day he has been unwilling to destroy them or banish them from his presence.(verses 22-23)

Is our God not amazing?  What strikes me here is that this cycle of sin, repentance, forgiveness, and redemption, is a cycle that is repeated in my own life as a believer.  I have sinned before, I am sinning now, and I will continue to sin.  Yet, God will never stop loving me and never stop forgiving me.  I need God...badly!

My Prayer: That you have forgiven me and will continue to forgive me is amazing!  That you love me knowing that I will continue to sin is amazing!  You are a great God!  I love you and ask that you forgive me that I don't trust you enough and don't obey you enough.  And of course I sin....I worry and do so many other things that say are wrong.  Please forgive me.  Help me love you more, seek you out more, trust you more, obey you more.

When You Follow the Ways of the Lord, Others Follow As Well...But Always Follow the Lord

2 Kings Chp 12

 ¹ In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. ² Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him. (verses 1-2)

Unlike many of the descendants of David, Joash "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord".  What strikes me here is that others also do right in the eyes of the Lord as evidenced in how money for the rebuilding of the temple was collected, stored, and distributed:

¹³ The money brought into the temple was not spent for making silver basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets or any other articles of gold or silver for the temple of the LORD; ¹⁴ it was paid to the workers, who used it to repair the temple. ¹⁵ They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty. (verses 13-15)

Yet, evil persists and eventually officials from within Joash's administration succumb and ultimately conspire to kill him.

The lesson here is that while looking towards men who do good is not bad...it is simply not enough.  You must look towards God and God alone to determine what is right.

My Prayer: Lord, you ARE good and your ways are good.  Forgive me when I don't follow you or when I ignore your word.  Forgive me for my worry.  Help me love you more, lean on you, and trust and love you fully.  Help me obey you fully. Help me look towards you alone.

2 Kings Chps 8-10

Our God is a jealous God. This is seen here as God uses Jehu and others to destroy followers of Baal. Yet at the same time God is full of mercy as he does not destroy Jehu as he sinned as well by not obeying the Lord with all of his heart. Is not all sin equal in the eyes of the Lord? Then it is through grace alone that we are spared the full might of the Lord's wrath. I must remember this for many reasons, including because God has a plan, even for those that sin - we cannot question the value of others nor are we to judge.

2 Kings 10:28-33 (NIV)
So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel. [29] However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit---the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. [30] The Lord said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation." [31] Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit. [32] In those days the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael overpowered the Israelites throughout their territory [33] east of the Jordan in all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh), from Aroer by the Arnon Gorge through Gilead to Bashan.

Heaven Is Only For Those Who Truly Believe

2 Kings Chps 6-7

You know something is important when it is stated more than once.  When the Israelites fear death at the hand of the Arameans, many doubt the Lord is protecting them and in fact believe the Lord is destroying them - such blasphemy:

   The king [of Israel] said, “This disaster is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?” (2 Kings 6:32)

Then, an officer in the king's army said this:

² The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” (2 Kings 7:2)

And Elisha responded:

“You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”

And later we see Elisa's prophecy come true:

¹⁷ Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house. ¹⁸ It happened as the man of God had said to the king: “About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.” 

 ¹⁹ The officer had said to the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” The man of God had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” ²⁰ And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died. 

The question for me is DO I TRULY belief, and the answer is yes...and no.  No in the sense that I don't follow God, I don't trust him enough - Lord forgive me!

Powerful Lessons When We Don't Like God's Plan

2 Kings 5

Here is Naaman, a valiant solider who had leprosy.  Elisha provides guidance to Naaman for him to be cured but Naaman does not like this guidance:

¹¹ But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. ¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage. (verses 11-12)

Ultimately, Naaman relents after his servants implore him to do so and he is ultimately cured.

Next we have Elisha's servant Gehazi who is not happy that Elisha treated Naaman with such mercy even though he still serves a godless King:

After Naaman had traveled some distance, ²⁰ Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, “My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.” (verses 19-20)

The question for me is
- am I too blind/deaf/dumb to not see God's guidance clearly?
- or am I too stubborn and fixated on my own plan to see the wisdom of God's plan?

I need to stay close to God so I can both hear God's words and also that I can see the wisdom of his plan and submit/obey.

My Prayer: Lord, again - time after time, day after day, I see the awesome nature of your plan unfolding in my life and how you provide - ALWAYS.  Forgive me for my fear, my concern, and my doubt - I must trust you!  Help me stay close to you, hear you, see you, love, follow you, submit to you and obey you.