I love reading through the Bible. I love the stories of the Old Testament – so much drama and battles between good and evil. I love the New Testament and all the practical advice on how to live my life every single day. The older I get, the more I appreciate the lessons that God’s word has for me. And even though I’ve read it from cover to cover at least 20 times, I always find something new I need to learn.
Hezekiah was king of Judah. His great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was King David, a king God calls a “man after my own heart” and the head of the royal line that Jesus was born into. Pretty amazing legacy, right?
Granted, although Hezekiah came from a long royal line connected to David and Jesus, there were quite a few kings in-between that were, shall we say, less than a shining example of morals and right living?
Hezekiah discovered the scrolls with the Law – or 10 Commandments – hidden away by the prior seven evil kings (and one super nasty queen!). After reading the Law and realizing that the people of Judah had been sinning so greatly against God, he called for the entire nation to turn back to God. There was an amazing revival in the land that caused the people to repent and focus on God and all that he had done for them. They got rid of their idols. They remembered the Sabbath and kept it holy. And because of their new found love and obedience to God, the king and his people enjoyed peace and were successful in everything they did.
Hezekiah was happy….and content…..and maybe a little prideful.
One day a convoy from Babylon stopped by for a visit. Hezekiah welcomed the group to his beautiful city and palace. He took them on a full and complete, no-holds-barred tour of everything he had, including all the silver and gold sacred items meant to be used in the Temple in service to the Holy God.
Long story short, Hezekiah’s pride got him in trouble with God. Because he was showing off his stuff, the enemy came and took it. Because he had gotten lazy in his reliance on God, he thought he would take care of the situation himself. So instead of asking God for forgiveness and direction, he took what he felt was the logical step – he reached out to Egypt for help. Egypt was, at the time, not to be trusted as an ally. After all, this was the country that held the Jewish nation as slaves for 200 years! But Hezekiah thought that they could be trusted and were now Judah’s friend.
It proved to be a disastrous idea. Egypt didn’t come, God was angry and withdrew his hand on the people and Hezekiah became deathly ill. In fact, God confirmed through a prophet that he was going to die from this illness. Hezekiah did what I’m pretty sure I would have done at that point. He turned his face to the wall and cried….hard! He sobbed and asked God to remember the good he had done and forgive the bad. The cool thing is that God heard his prayer and answered it. God healed him and told him he would get another 12 years of life. I would imagine there were a lot of tearful “thank-you’s” and a much more contrite and humble king reigned over Judah for the next 12 years.
I’ve been a Christian a long time. I mean a loooooong time! Sometimes I’ve totally got it going on and am so connected to the Lord that my feet feel like they aren’t fully touching the ground. Other times, more often than I’d like to say, I think, “Hey God! I know that you’re super busy right now, so I’ll go ahead and take this one.” And then, just like clockwork, I screw it up. Sometimes in a little way and others in a royal, sky-writing-in-the-sky kind of way.
It’s those times that I get just a little too comfortable sitting at Jesus’ feet that I think, “I’ve seen him do this before, I can do it myself this time.” I do the logical thing. I look at all the options through my earthly lens, weigh the pros and cons and “go to Egypt for help”. Sound familiar? I figure my own way out of the situation, using my own resources.
What’s so bad about that, you ask? Sounds like the kind of actions we humans take pride in and celebrate. Here’s the problem – I can only see as far as the end of my nose when it comes to seeing the big picture. I have absolutely no way of knowing that God has something really creative that is going to blow my mind if I just let him take care of the situation.
I’ve gotten myself into so many pickles this way – lost job opportunities, messy relationships, missed opportunities to share God’s way of salvation. When I have the chance to sit and reflect, I often wonder what amazing things God would have done if he had the steering wheel instead of me.
I love growing older and the opportunity it brings to do more reflecting; to slow down and do more listening than talking. It’s much quieter in my house these days than when I had young children and all the responsibilities that go along with those years. Don’t get me wrong. I have loved every year God has given me and every season he has sent my way. I just want to use this particular season to remember that I don’t have all the answers, God is way better at problem solving than I’ll ever be and his way is best. His way is my way, and that means going to God for help….not Egypt!
I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. – Psalm 121:1-2
