Today's Scripture Reading (March 12, 2020): 2 Chronicles
32
"Faithless is he that says
farewell when the road darkens." The words belong to J.R.R. Tolkien in his
classic tale "The Fellowship of the Ring." It is easy to walk away
when the going starts to get a little rough. And my world is filled with
fair-weather friends who are with you through the good times, but when the
going gets a little rough, they decide that it is time to leave for fairer
shores where they believe the going will be a little bit easier. I am convinced
that this is the truth for those who hop from one church to another. As long as
it looks like things are going good, they are willing to stick around. But
after about two or three years, maybe a little longer, the problems with the
church begin to appear. And every church has problems, after all, we are all
made of people with problems. And so, as the issues arise, they decide to leave
for somewhere else where they believe things will be a little better. And with
the move, they not only condemn themselves to the cycle of church hopping, but
they will never see the power of God move through the dark times.
One of the things that made Hezekiah
a great King was that he was a man of incredible faith and that he was willing
to lead with that faith. Yes, he had a great adviser in Isaiah standing at his
side, but he didn't relegate the role of faith to the prophet. Hezekiah took
the reigns of faith and used them as he spoke to the people. He didn't need to
be encouraged by Isaiah as he sat alone in the palace through the nation's dark
moments. He was willing to be the one to walk the streets of Jerusalem,
encouraging those who had gathered that even in these dark times, there was
greater strength in what the people couldn't see than in the things that they
could.
Hezekiah didn't avoid the physical
preparations for the defense of the city. He stopped up the freshwater in the
surrounding area so the Assyrians would not find water readily available. Hezekiah
brought shields and swords into Jerusalem, he armed his warriors, and there is
even some evidence that the king hired mercenaries to defend the city. All of
those things were good things for a King to do. But, in the end, Hezekiah knew
that what was not seen was going to play a more significant role.
Sennacherib had more soldiers, and more
significant weapons, to bring into the fight against Jerusalem. But Hezekiah
had Yahweh defending the city. If Sennacherib believed that Jerusalem would fall
the same way that Samaria had, he was wrong. Israel had rejected their God, but
Hezekiah had embraced the God of his ancestors. He had reversed the damage to the
spiritual structure of the nation that had been caused by his father. Now he
knew that the people could place their faith in their God to deliver them, even
as the road became dark, and the faithless fled.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm
46 & 47
No comments:
Post a Comment