"It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps," said Hezekiah. "Rather, have it go back ten steps." – 2 Kings 20:10

Today's Scripture Reading (April 21, 2023): 2 Kings 20

I have admitted that I am going through my "country" phase of musical development. But I also must admit that my country phase doesn't extend much past liking Tim Hicks's music. And in late 2022, Hicks released what I think is his fifth studio album, Talk to Time. The title song talks about our struggle with the passing of time. The chorus of the song says.

If I could talk to time
I'd say, "Why you always flyin'?"
You say you're on my side
But you ain't no friend of mine
You don't do second chances
You don't like lookin' back
I blame it all on you
But it's me who's losin' track.

The chorus sums up some of the most precious and worst moments of our lives. The good moments pass by us too quickly, and in the bad moments, time allows us no do-overs. This is our world; this is where we live. We wish we could dwell in the good and have a chance to redo the bad, but time doesn't allow that. I wish time did, but that is the problem we all have with time.

Hezekiah is sick, but God has said he will heal the King. But Hezekiah wants a sign that this healing promise has come from God. Isaiah shrugs and offers Hezekiah the chance to have the shadow of the day move ten steps forward or ten steps back. Hezekiah lives in the same world I do; he would understand the sentiment of Tim Hicks's "Talk to Time." And so, he responds that making the shadow go ten steps forward is not a big thing. Time moves forward independently, whether we want it to or not. But moving backward ten steps is something that time doesn't do. If God could do that, it would be a powerful sign.

Hezekiah receives what the rest of us have only dreamed, a chance to move time backward, even if it was only a few minutes, and relive those minutes over again. For the rest of us, time is just a treasure that keeps seeping through our fingers.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 18

… and Azariah the chief priest, from the family of Zadok, answered, "Since the people began to bring their contributions to the temple of the LORD, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare, because the LORD has blessed his people, and this great amount is left over." – 2 Chronicles 31:10

Today's Scripture Reading (April 20, 2023): 2 Chronicles 31

Money. No matter the arena, money is a sensitive topic. I have friends who say that they love to talk about the subject; after all, it is one of the things that the Bible does talk about. And if there is anything that we need instruction on, it is the subject of money. If we are willing to live the way the Bible instructs, we might even have more of the stuff. But God's way is challenging. It involves living on what we have and not going into debt. That move alone would leave most of us financially in a much better place. The temptation to possess today rather than wait until we can afford the item is often too much for us. Don't get me wrong; debt is a necessary evil with some big-ticket items. But the ready availability of credit often invites us to bite off more than we can actually chew. We make purchases that are beyond what we need and can afford, and in the process, we ensure our poverty and become slaves (note to my computer: insensitive language intended) to the banks—but having someone tell us that is often insulting.

Another part of God's plan is to tithe and give ten percent of what we earn to the church so that it can function. But that is another sensitive topic, especially if the religious organization tends to waste money. I have to admit that I am sometimes embarrassed by how some organizations spend what has been donated to them. CEOs and pastors who direct massive amounts of funding to their own accounts and live extravagant lives are only one way that makes me more than a little self-conscious when I talk about money. And yet, I also know the blessing of using our money in the way God intends.

There is abundance in the House of the Lord, reflecting the abundance that God has given to the people. The people of Judah had been stingy with their giving, until Hezekiah talks to them about money. He reminds them that the duty to bring money into the storehouse belongs to everyone, not just a few. And the people respond. Finally, those who minister in God's house have enough to eat and no longer have to go hungry.

Sometimes, I think that part of our problem is that we don't recognize the blessings that God has given to us. Because our eyes have expanded our wants, we dwell on what we cannot afford rather than acknowledging all the ways that we are better off than people in other parts of the world. We have already received, so now it is time to give back so that there can once more be abundance in the House of God that will spill over to care for those in need, just as God intended it to be.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 20

People of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. – 2 Chronicles 30:6b

Today's Scripture Reading (April 19, 2023): 2 Chronicles 30

I have always been intrigued by French Resistance during World War II, and I don't seem to be the only one. Even the popular Science Fiction Television Series "Star Trek" paid homage to these freedom fighters when they called their freedom fighters "The Maquis" after those who fought in rural France. The country might have been under the control of Nazi Germany, but these brave men and women fought, and many died, to restore a France that, at that point, only existed in the minds of the fighters and other like-minded people.

As a result of the presence of the resistance in fighters in France, the Allied forces, led by Britain and later the United States, went to great lengths to try to communicate with these fighters. Even though part of the struggle with the resistance is that they seemed to often opt for splash, doing something that would get a lot of publicity, over substance, hitting military targets that might not get much fanfare but would advance the aims of the Allied military forces in their fight against the Nazi war machine, the resistance movement in areas occupied by the Nazi's played a significant role in the outcome of the war.

For the northern Kingdom of Israel, the war is over. Most of the people of substance have been exiled by their Assyrian conquerors. But there was still a remnant left behind in the land once ruled over by the northern tribes of Israel. They were most likely the poor and those who had never possessed any kind of power to shape their lives. But this northern remnant were still the descendants of Jacob and the cousins to their southern neighbors. And so, Hezekiah makes what might be considered a surprising move. Judah's great reformer demonstrates that he is worthy of the throne of David by not just considering the spiritual need of the Kingdom of Judah but also extending an invitation to the remnant in the Northern Kingdom still living in the land. The invitation was to attend the religious festival and repent of their sins to the God of both Judah's and Israel's forefathers.

Even after all that had happened in the Kingdom of Israel, Yahweh was still their God, and he was still calling them to return to him. And because Hezekiah was a servant of God, he understood that his invitation to worship was not just for his people but also for all the people that God loved.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 31

He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. – 2 Chronicles 29:2

Today's Scripture Reading (April 18, 2023): 2 Chronicles 29

I am always intrigued by conversations about the "G.O.A.T." (Greatest of All Time). There are always so many things to consider, including the climate, and competition, when they were alive and engaged in whatever the pursuit might be that is under examination. For instance, in September 2022, C.B.S. News released a list of the best and worst Presidents of the United States. Who do you think should be listed as the G.O.A.T. regarding Presidents of the United States? I can almost hear the Maga World demanding that President Trump be listed as number one. But he wasn't. Trump didn't even make the top ten. Of the forty-five presidents to date, C.B.S. ranked The Donald as number 43. The current President came in at number 19, one position behind G.O.P. favorite Ronald Reagan (coming in at number 18). I know you're not asking me, but I think both might be ranked a little higher in this poll than historians will rank them when a few years have passed.

So, who is the G.O.A.T.? The top three presidents, according to the poll, are George Washington (#3), Abraham Lincoln (#2), and Franklin D. Roosevelt (#1). F.D.R. gets first place not just because of his incredible popularity, he is the only American President who was elected to four terms, but also because of the time in history during which he was the leader of the nation, which included the worst years of the depression and the entirety of World War II. But an argument could probably be made for any of the top three to be the G.O.A.T. It is important to note that each of the top three where in some way "War Presidents;" for Roosevelt, it was World War II, Lincoln was the President during the American Civil War, and Washington, while not technically a War president, was the first president of the United States and a product of the American Revolutionary war. World War I President, Woodrow Wilson, was ranked number 13 in the poll.

If you ask many people who were the Greatest King of Israel, the consensus might be that David was the greatest. But I believe that an argument could be made for Hezekiah. David was a great King, and in many ways, he set the standard for a good King of the descendants of Jacob. But Hezekiah came into a situation where he had to try to restore Israel to the place where God had designed the nation to be. Since the days of David, many good kings had not removed the High places. But Hezekiah took direct action against these popular altars, which God had prohibited. Neither Hezekiah nor David were perfect, but Hezekiah was a good King who likely owed much of his morality to the teaching of the godly mother who had brought him up. And as a result, Hezekiah shared what his mother had taught him with the nation, restoring God to the prime position of the country. And I think that should put Hezekiah at least in the conversation as the Greatest King of Judah/Israel of All Time.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 30

He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him. – 2 Kings 17:2

 Today's Scripture Reading (April 17, 2023): 2 Kings 17

I have often heard of the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back." It is a reminder that what brings us to the breaking point is often not the placing of the heaviest part of the load on us, but often it is something relatively small that carries us past our breaking point. Families probably know the reality of this proverb well. Many parents have had stressful days only to explode because something small went wrong when they arrived home. The saying has Arabic origins and comes from the practice of traders placing straw on the back of the camel to carry from place to place in their trading activities. The trick was to get as much straw on the back of the camel without passing the point where the animal would collapse under the too-heavy burden. And, apparently, the practice of having camels loaded with straw has cost more than one camel its life.

The earliest use of the expression in the precise way we have it was in the Australian newspaper "The Age" in 1854. However, Charles Dickens used the concept with slightly different phrasing six years earlier in his novel "Dombey and Son." In that novel, Dickens wrote, "As the last straw breaks the laden camel's back, this piece of underground information crushed the sinking spirits of Mr. Dombey" (Charles Dickens).

As the author of the Book of Kings begins the tale of the last King of Israel, he reminds us that Hoshea was an evil king, but not as bad as some of the kings of Israel who had preceded him, which is significant in and of itself. Hoshea was the straw, and not the full load that would cause the demise of the Kingdom.

The last time we saw Hoshea was in 2 Kings 15, as Hoshea led a conspiracy against Pekah, the previous King of Israel. Hoshea led a bloody revolt against Pekah and killed the King, yet the author of Kings says that even that was not enough to cause Hoshea to be listed among the most evil kings the nation had to offer. One note is that it does not seem that Hoshea either began or furthered practices that opposed the God of Israel.

But Hoshea was a continuation of other practices God had stated was forbidden for his people. Anglican theologian John Trapp (1601-1669) says that "It is not the last sand that exhausteth the hourglass, nor the last stroke of the axe that felleth the tree; so here" (Trapp). No one grain of sand takes longer to fall through the hourglass than any other, nor would the last stroke of the axe make the tree fall without all of the blows the tree received before it. So Hoshea is simply the last grain of sand, the final blow of the axe, and the proverbial last straw. He may not have been the worst of the Kings, but he also did nothing to give God pause concerning the fate of Israel. And so, Hoshea becomes the last King of the Kingdom of Israel. It wasn't supposed to end this way, and yet it did.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 29

In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, "This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover." – Isaiah 38:1

Today's Scripture Reading (April 16, 2023): Isaiah 38 & 39

Some people seem to be made for a particular moment in history. Winston Churchill was one such person. We still remember Churchill's words given on June 4, 1940, as Britain struggled with the potential loss of France to Germany, an event that would take place a mere three weeks later. But the reality, as Churchill gave his famous "We Shall Fight" speech, is that the British army had been chased from the European continent, and Germany's domination in Eastern France continued. The Battle of Dunkirk, which allowed soldiers to evacuate from France to Britain, had just drawn to a close. The casualties were enormous, and the mood in Britain was not very optimistic. And at that moment, Churchill gave a speech before the House of Commons. He admits the enemy's strength had overwhelmed what Britain could muster against them. He tells the nation's leaders of the German Airforce's strength and the English defenses' weakness. And yet, Churchill spoke these words in what became a defining moment for Britain in the war.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if … this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old (Winston Churchill).

Winston Churchill became a man of the moment, and if we are honest, he struggled to find his footing in times of peace. But we are thankful for his leadership during World War II. And we shudder to think what might have happened if Churchill had died in some accident in the years just before the war.

For both good and bad, Hezekiah was also a man of the moment. And Isaiah seems to pause from his prophecy here to remember back. Many experts accept a date of 703 B.C.E., just before the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, for this prophecy. But the evidence strongly suggests that Hezekiah's sickness occurred a decade before the siege in 712 B.C.E. Isaiah's point is that Hezekiah almost didn't get to this point. He might be the man of the moment, but his death was scheduled many years before the Assyrian invasion. And this moment could have been left to Hezekiah's son Manasseh, the king who would eventually execute Isaiah. Isaiah likely believed that the reason God had agreed to extend Hezekiah's life was for this specific moment in the history of the nation so that it would be Hezekiah at the helm of the country and not his son.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 17

Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master, 'This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me." – Isaiah 37:6

Today's Scripture Reading (April 15, 2023): Isaiah 37

The month has become one of funerals and saying goodbye. It started with the death of my grandmother. On the way home from her funeral, I teased my wife that an era had ended. For a while, I was both a grandson and a grandfather. But now, with the death of my last grandparent at the young age of 107, I was no longer a grandson, just a grandfather. Then I was approached by a friend about doing a funeral for someone I didn't know but who had a connection with the church building. That funeral is taking place later this morning. And then another friend passed away. That funeral has been scheduled for the first part of May. Typically, we think of April as the month when spring finally arrives and life pokes through the formerly snow and frost-filled ground. But this year, it seems to be highlighted by death.

Death has a habit of sending me into torrents of remembering and waves of memory. The husband of my latest deceased friend passed away a couple of years ago. I know his wife, now also gone, has been mourning his death ever since he left us. And now, she is again where she wanted to be, by his side.

And then this torrent of remembering brings me back to the death of my friend a couple of years ago. His death caught him by surprise. He really believed that he would not die, that Jesus would return before his body finally wore out and ceased working. He had heard the words spoken by modern-day prophets that said the world was ending, not some years from now, but today. Every day he woke worried that this might be the day, although worried might not be the exact word needed here. But it is a strange paradox that we, as Christians, seem to have adopted. We have come to believe that the world will descend every day into more and more chaos until the moment when we are about to destroy the world ourselves, but instead, Jesus comes back and saves us from ourselves.

I am not convinced that is true. Are we living in the last days? Of course, we are. We have been for the last two thousand years. And Jesus will come back at a time of the Father's choosing. But most of the noise that I hear and that we accept as modern-day prophecy is nothing more than clatter that distracts us from what is essential.

Jesus instructed us to be salt and light. We are not supposed to be waiting for the world to end in chaos; instead, we should be making this world a better place. We are the salt that this world needs and the light that chases away the darkness and chaos. We must stop listening to the modern-day prophets and start being Christ with skin on for this world to see.

We need to hear Isaiah's words. Just as Hezekiah needed to ignore the words of Sennacherib's underlings and concentrate on what God wanted from him, we need to listen to the words spoken over our lives and situations. "Do not be afraid of what you have heard" (Isaiah 37:6); keep your eyes on Jesus and what he asks of you. And the end will take care of itself.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 38 & 39