We have prepared and consecrated all the articles that King Ahaz removed in his unfaithfulness while he was king. They are now in front of the LORD’s altar. – 2 Chronicles 29:19

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 31, 2017): 2 Chronicles 29

According to Greek Mythology, Daedalus and his son Icarus were imprisoned on the island of Crete by King Minos. Minos imprisons the father – son duo in the very labyrinth that Daedalus had created for King Minos to imprison the Minotaur, a half man and half bull monster that was born of Mino's wife and the Cretan bull. When Daedalus is drawn into helping an enemy of Minos survive the labyrinth and kill the Minotaur, Minos decides that the labyrinth can now serve as the prison for Daedalus and his son.

So Daedalus is confronted with two problematic escapes. The most immediate problem is the escape from the labyrinth, but the second escape is just as hard – how can Daedalus and Icarus get off of the island of Crete and back to the Greek mainland. So Daedalus invents a pair of wax wings which have stuck into the wax, feathers that Daedalus had been able to gather up. The idea is that flight might be the only way to both escape the labyrinth and the island. Daedalus test drives his created wings first and finds that they work. He gives a pair to his son with the instructions that Icarus must accurately replicate the flight path of his Dad if the two are going to survive the trip. To fly either too close to the sea or too close to the sun would be a mistake with deadly consequences. But once in the air, the experience of flying deafens Icarus to his father’s advice, and Icarus flies higher and higher until the heat from the sun melts the wax, and the feathers fall out of the wings leaving Icarus flapping his bare arms which will no longer sustain his flight. The result of the pride of Icarus is that he crashes and dies in the sea between Crete and the mainland – his resting place is named in his honor and is known today as the Icarian Sea – leaving the father to mourn the life of his son.

The story of Daedalus and Icarus is one of the prototypical stories used to describe father and son conflict. The father who is wise gives to the child instructions that the child needs for life. But the child does not recognize the wisdom of the father – in the story of Icarus the wisdom of the father is not recognized until it is too late – and therefore the son falls into the precise trap from which Dad’s advice was intended to protect him. Dad’s wisdom is proved in the folly of the son.

In the story of Ahaz and Hezekiah, the father-son conflict exists, but the roles are reversed. For Ahaz and Hezekiah, it is Ahaz who is deafened by pride, and it is Ahaz who seems to fly too close to the sun. And the result of the father’s folly is that the son is left to pick up the pieces of a life wasted by a false hubris. One of the things that Ahaz had done during his reign was to remove the gold and silver items that were intended for use in the temple and the sacrificial work of the priests, taking them from the temple so that he could enjoy their use personally. These items were not destroyed, so they did not have to be remade, but they did need to be re-consecrated for use in the temple. In this process, there would have most likely been a time of national repentance for the failure of the nation to recognize God in the days of Ahaz. What we might sometimes miss is the emotional toll that consecration and repentance might have had on Hezekiah. The son would be forced, not lonely to mourn the loss of his dad, but to publically recognize his father’s folly. No matter what the relationship was like between Ahaz and Hezekiah, this would have been one of the harder moments of Hezekiah’s reign – the day when the son would have to set right the results of his father’s having flown too close to the sun.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 30

The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. – 2 Kings 17:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 30, 2017): 2 Kings 17

We thrive on competition. Our society is built around it. Seth Godin has written about some of the choices that we have to make – and some possible reasons why we might choose one over another. His conclusion is that we don’t have to “like competition in order to understand that it exists.”  So we need to give people a reason to choose us.

He’s right. This blog is a devotional blog. It talks about life and politics and history and events in this world from a spiritual angle. I hope that you read it because it is the thing that you are looking for – or may even need – at this point in your life. But in reading this blog – you are making a choice. You didn’t have to stop in here. A choice is a choice – we all have to make them.

God realizes that we are people of choices. It is the way he created us – and he encourages us to make decisions. In fact, he encourages us to make a choice either for him or against him. Listen to the words of Jesus in Revelation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth (Revelation 3:15-16). What disturbs God is when we don’t make a choice; when we allow ourselves to be simply blown around by the culture winds that surround us.

And that was a big problem for the Israelites. They weren’t really making a choice. With their mouths they praised God, but then they secretly did things against God. Their public persona may have led people to believe that they were followers of the God of Israel – but privately their actions didn’t back up the public witness. They hadn’t made a choice.

Our lives are full of choices – and the only way to choose God is to go all the way and commit fully to him. There is no part way – it is all, or make another choice.  Either way, God can work through us – and can lead us to him. But when we go only half way – then we are deluded, and that delusion seems to move us outside of the influence and voice of God.

What choice is your life making? (And thanks for choosing to read my blog.)

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 29

Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.’ – Isaiah 38:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 29, 2017): Isaiah 38 & 39

Does God hear our prayers? The obvious answer is that God hears our prayers – but maybe he just doesn’t do anything about them. The real question isn’t whether or not God hears, but really whether or not he cares. And then, if he cares, whether or not God is willing to step in and change what is happening in our existence.

Surprisingly, this is a point where some conservative and liberal theologians agree – but for different reasons. For the conservative scholar who sees and believes in the inaction of God, the reason that God doesn’t answer prayer is because God has already set out history beforehand. And God does not change his mind. Everything that could happen has already been written down somewhere – and what God has written cannot be altered. For these thinkers, God was already aware that he was going to extend the life of Hezekiah – he knew that Hezekiah would pray and that he would answer. It had already been decided long before the pages of history started to turn.

For liberal theologians, the reason is entirely different. For them, the world is a closed system. Nothing happens that is not part of the natural order of things. Miracles just don’t occur in our world. God has already refused to interfere with the things of man – and once again, that refusal occurred long before the pages of history began to turn.

But the story of Hezekiah would seem to demand a different solution. The theology of the liberal theologian doesn’t appear to apply. I mean, God did not walk away and just let the disease run its course. At least, in this case, the system isn’t closed. God stepped in and changed the flow of history. But for the conservative theologian who believes that it is all written down and can’t be modified, then that leaves us with God telling Hezekiah that he is going to die when he knew that was not the case; a circumstance that seems to be treading on the edges of the truth. And lying is not the behavior that we would expect from God.

The only option that would seem to be left is to say that our prayers move God – and, at least sometimes, he even changes our world and our future. This is the God that I believe in – one that responds to our prayers because he loves us. So, as Paul would say - pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people (Ephesians 6:18).

We need to keep on praying for each other!

Originally Published on February 23, 2011

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 17