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.?

The Boasting Ax

The Bible has some interesting words to describe those who claim recognition, glory, and credit for their own actions in fulfilling God's plan. He describes them as axes boasting against the one that uses it.

Ok, so I guess I should be a little more clear. The Lord calls the King of Assyria that in Isaiah 10 for how he will boast of his inevitable destruction of Jerusalem.

The Lord of course used the wicked to punish the wicked, but then the ax that he has wielded decides to boast itself against Him. Listen in on the Lord's rebuke In Isaiah 10:12-15, 

"Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood."

 Hey, the Lord is sovereign, and He is able to empower men to do His bidding. But after we have done His bidding (either willingly or unwillingly), we tend to take all sorts of credit for the good that we have done.

But how is it that the ax is boasting itself against Him that is using it? or the rod against Him that is lifting it?

It's not as if the rod is suddenly going to jump up and lift itself. Neither are we going to be able to accomplish anything without God. So maybe just maybe we should give Him the credit, and not be like this wicked King of Assyria.

Don't eat the Honey!

Ok, so maybe that title is a little bit of an exaggeration, but I would like to urge you to reduce your intake of honey today.

Honey is a wonderful thing as a nice natural sweetener that you are welcome to use, but even too much of a good thing can cause problems. If you've ever had too much honey at one sitting, you probably have experienced some unpleasant consequences, including stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. 

So yes, we should not eat that much honey because we will figuratively choke on it as we push it down our system.

Now I shall write a beautiful seg-way into our spiritual application today.

Done. Proverbs 25:27 uses an analogy of eating too much honey to make a compelling point of how we should live our lives. In it, we read,

"It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory."

So glory is something that we all kinda desire and long to possess in our lives, but just like honey, one can receive too much of a this good thing. The Proverb here implies that if we are seeking out our own glory, then we will inevitably receive too much glory that will probably more likely leave us uncomfortable.

 If I look back to my own life, I can definitely find this statement to be true. My senior year of high school, I was the President of my debate club, and as president, I was "required" to coordinate all of our evidence sharing.

I had some difficulty at times getting people to actively participate in the evidence sharing, which meant a lot of me yelling over email and trying to demonstrate the obligations of the club members.

But I did this without thinking about the Lord and the way the Lord would have me handle the situation. Instead, my focus was on ensuring I was the best debate president I could be.

But whenever my debate coach would acknowledge my astounding efforts in class (trust me, they were pretty astounding :)), I would feel uncomfortable and like I was undeserving of any such recognition or glory.

Yet deep down, that is what I was searching for throughout that entire year, so why did it hurt when I actually received it?

Probably because "It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory."