Friday, April 24, 2015

This Post May Be Worth the Wait

Most of me wants to blame the fact that next week is Finals week for my apparent spacing on what the day is. I mean, I was thinking on multiple times throughout the day that I need to write a blog post for tomorrow, apparently fully convinced that today was Thursday even though I went to Friday classes. But I realize that I can't really blame Finals week since my finals week is very stress-free in general. So I guess that means I have no excuse for this behavior, but at least it's still Friday!

If someone saved your life and there were people coming to hear about how your life was saved, would you show them your treasures or tell them about the great guy who saved your life? That is the question that is placed before Hezekiah in a story that is recounted twice in the Old Testament. We will be looking at the account in the book of Isaiah.

In Isaiah 38, Hezekiah is told by Isaiah that he is going to die. But then he asks the Lord to allow him to live, and the Lord grants his request. To show that He would add 15 years to Hezekiah's life, the Lord pushes the shadow of the sun to run back up ten steps.

In chapter 39, Hezekiah's miraculous recovery does not go unnoticed and the Babylonians come to hear about his recovery. And Hezekiah instead of showing his God, shows them all of his gold.

Oh, come on Hezekiah! You were doing so well trusting God against the Assyrians (unlike your father) and to actually listen to the lectures that Isaiah preached to him, but now, what have you done?

The rest of the book of Isaiah from what I understand is largely a reaction to Hezekiah's failure to tell the Babylonians about his God. Isaiah preaches the ultimate cost for that of the Babylonians taking all that Hezekiah showed to them as well as the general idea that trusting God is good, but telling others about His goodness is kinda the other half of the mission.

So maybe it seems ridiculous, but if Hezekiah as great of a king as he was can fall into this trap, we probably can too. What is your first response when the Lord does something great in your life? Is it to tell others about His goodness? or to share something intrinsically good about your life, your riches, your organization, etc.?

1 comment:

  1. Good point, Ryan! I find myself reminded of how important it is to give all glory to God, for it is he that does all things.

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