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Matthew 1:9
"Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah."
Hezekiah became a king at 25 years old. I thought about that for a couple of minutes and compared and contrasted Hezekiah and my jobs. I didn't go into alot of detail in my thoughts, but I did think about how stressful it can be at times, for me, to have people's lives in my hands. I know I'm not a surgeon or a cop, firefighter or on a rescue team. But I have people's trust regarding their medical conditions. I can screen them for serious illnesses that can lead to death. I can perform treatments on people that could risk their lives if I'm not paying attention. I could just be tired one day and have delayed reflexes if they start to fall. This, at times, can be stressful. But Hezekiah, a year younger than I am right now. Was in charge of Israel. He was in charge of the safety of all of those people, and to keep them safe, he was in charge of his army. Can you imagine the stress involved with that? I mean, he would hear when his men would die fighting. I don't know, I don't really have the time to go into that any further, but I just am thankful I'm not in charge of any more than I already am!
Like I said, I'm short on time today, but I wanted to say a little about Hezekiah. He did what was right for the most part. He got rid of lots of idols including "the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it." Isn't that crazy that it had been there that long? And doesn't it just make you shake your head at the point that the Israelites seemed to worship anything and everything with dedication? Except with God, they swayed. I mean, I'm guilt of the same. I take God for granted more often than I'd like to admit, and I fill that time of worship with TV and internet and stressing myself out about randomness.
Anyways, long story short (I apologize! This is all in 2 Kings 18-20). I assume this is about a decade later, because he reigned for 29 years, Hezekiah got sick. He had a boil and the Lord said through a prophet that he will not recover and he will die. Hezekiah did not like the sound of that! He cried alot, turned towards a wall and prayed and prayed. God heard his prayer and told his prophet to tell Hezekiah that he will live 15 more years. Hezekiah didn't get too excited right off the bat, he wanted proof. Which I don't know why him feeling better and the boil going away wasn't proof enough. So Isaiah, one of the prophets that had been relaying messages from God to Hezekiah, said,
"This is the Lord's sign...Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?"
Hezekiah said it would be easy for the shadow to go forward 10 steps, "Rather, have it go back 10 steps."
I'm not sure why God sometimes let's people have what appears to me as little faith, but I guess we are all human and struggle with the idea of just trusting.
"...the Lord made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz."
Hezekiah became a king at 25 years old. I thought about that for a couple of minutes and compared and contrasted Hezekiah and my jobs. I didn't go into alot of detail in my thoughts, but I did think about how stressful it can be at times, for me, to have people's lives in my hands. I know I'm not a surgeon or a cop, firefighter or on a rescue team. But I have people's trust regarding their medical conditions. I can screen them for serious illnesses that can lead to death. I can perform treatments on people that could risk their lives if I'm not paying attention. I could just be tired one day and have delayed reflexes if they start to fall. This, at times, can be stressful. But Hezekiah, a year younger than I am right now. Was in charge of Israel. He was in charge of the safety of all of those people, and to keep them safe, he was in charge of his army. Can you imagine the stress involved with that? I mean, he would hear when his men would die fighting. I don't know, I don't really have the time to go into that any further, but I just am thankful I'm not in charge of any more than I already am!
Like I said, I'm short on time today, but I wanted to say a little about Hezekiah. He did what was right for the most part. He got rid of lots of idols including "the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it." Isn't that crazy that it had been there that long? And doesn't it just make you shake your head at the point that the Israelites seemed to worship anything and everything with dedication? Except with God, they swayed. I mean, I'm guilt of the same. I take God for granted more often than I'd like to admit, and I fill that time of worship with TV and internet and stressing myself out about randomness.
Anyways, long story short (I apologize! This is all in 2 Kings 18-20). I assume this is about a decade later, because he reigned for 29 years, Hezekiah got sick. He had a boil and the Lord said through a prophet that he will not recover and he will die. Hezekiah did not like the sound of that! He cried alot, turned towards a wall and prayed and prayed. God heard his prayer and told his prophet to tell Hezekiah that he will live 15 more years. Hezekiah didn't get too excited right off the bat, he wanted proof. Which I don't know why him feeling better and the boil going away wasn't proof enough. So Isaiah, one of the prophets that had been relaying messages from God to Hezekiah, said,
"This is the Lord's sign...Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?"
Hezekiah said it would be easy for the shadow to go forward 10 steps, "Rather, have it go back 10 steps."
I'm not sure why God sometimes let's people have what appears to me as little faith, but I guess we are all human and struggle with the idea of just trusting.
"...the Lord made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz."
1 comment:
And then he went on to father one of the most evil, non-God-fearing men that ruled Israel. God's plan is always best. He should have died.
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