So I’m currently reading through 2 Kings in the old testament. There’s definitely a pattern that comes in when a person reads this and that is that the Kings don’t obey God. Every chapter seems really similar, there’s a king, and he doesn’t follow God and his commandments, bad idea. Then once in a while, something interesting happens. A good king who fears the Lord comes around. That happened today while I was reading my Bible, it shocked me to the point where I did a double take on it and actually thought, “did that just happen?” Hezekiah was one of those kings. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. In 2 Kings 18, it actually says
He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses. And the LORD was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.
(2 Kings 18:5-7 ESV)
Now I don’t know about you, but that’s a pretty big statement about a king. “There was none like him…after him, nor among those who were before him.” Now that’s who I would call a baller. Look carefully at what he did.
1. He trusted in the Lord
That’s definitely something that a lot of us have trouble with in our own life. We find it hard to trust God with our grades, our schoolwork, our friends, our ministry, our disciples, and so forth. We have a desire to control everything in our own hands instead of trusting God with it and knowing that He is sovereign.
2. He held fast to the Lord
We have to hold onto God like our life depended on it, because it does. Whenever we put ourselves before God, our pride has become our idol and we have put God in the backseat, which is a dangerous place for the God of the universe to be sitting in, especially for you. We should not make any decisions without Him, meaning that we should live lives according to His word and in ways that would glorify Him.
3. He did not depart from following him
Another thing that can happen to us is that we can drift away from following God. We need to be intentional about following God everyday so that it doesn’t happen. We should actually fear that it might even be a possibility, and it is, a very real one. We need to be going to the Lord everyday in the word and in prayer so that we are in constant relationship with Him.
4. He kept the commandments
This is seriously an amazing feat in and of itself. There were a ridiculous amount of commandments, I know, I read through all of them this past summer and I thought I was rereading stuff at one point. How does this reflect in us? I think that Jesus gives two commandments that we should obey very clearly, which he says the rest of the law and prophets rest upon. They can be summed up simply as “Love God, Love people.” This can be found in http://esv.to/Mt22.37-40
Now look at what happened as a result:
1. The Lord was with him
This has got to be very cool. Especially in the old testament before Jesus died for us so that the Holy Spirit could live in all of us. Back then, even if a lot of people followed God, only very few select people could be said of them, “The Lord was with him.” We are very blessed to live in today’s world, were we do have the Holy Spirit residing in us as a seal of our relationship with God until we see Him face to face.
2. Wherever he went, he prospered
I’m at Cornell, and I definitely want to prosper here. I want to prosper in the workplace and everywhere else too. When I do homework, imagine me finishing it all in an hour compared to the hours it usually takes me haha. In ministry, in my small group, in my discipleship times, just imagine all of it prospering because of my relationship with God. Now that’s pretty awesome.
Continue to be faithful to the Lord. Love Him with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. Make disciples.
Baller King
So I’m currently reading through 2 Kings in the old testament. There’s definitely a pattern that comes in when a person reads this and that is that the Kings don’t obey God. Every chapter seems really similar, there’s a king, and he doesn’t follow God and his commandments, bad idea. Then once in a while, something interesting happens. A good king who fears the Lord comes around. That happened today while I was reading my Bible, it shocked me to the point where I did a double take on it and actually thought, “did that just happen?” Hezekiah was one of those kings. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. In 2 Kings 18, it actually says
Now I don’t know about you, but that’s a pretty big statement about a king. “There was none like him…after him, nor among those who were before him.” Now that’s who I would call a baller. Look carefully at what he did.
1. He trusted in the Lord
That’s definitely something that a lot of us have trouble with in our own life. We find it hard to trust God with our grades, our schoolwork, our friends, our ministry, our disciples, and so forth. We have a desire to control everything in our own hands instead of trusting God with it and knowing that He is sovereign.
2. He held fast to the Lord
We have to hold onto God like our life depended on it, because it does. Whenever we put ourselves before God, our pride has become our idol and we have put God in the backseat, which is a dangerous place for the God of the universe to be sitting in, especially for you. We should not make any decisions without Him, meaning that we should live lives according to His word and in ways that would glorify Him.
3. He did not depart from following him
Another thing that can happen to us is that we can drift away from following God. We need to be intentional about following God everyday so that it doesn’t happen. We should actually fear that it might even be a possibility, and it is, a very real one. We need to be going to the Lord everyday in the word and in prayer so that we are in constant relationship with Him.
4. He kept the commandments
This is seriously an amazing feat in and of itself. There were a ridiculous amount of commandments, I know, I read through all of them this past summer and I thought I was rereading stuff at one point. How does this reflect in us? I think that Jesus gives two commandments that we should obey very clearly, which he says the rest of the law and prophets rest upon. They can be summed up simply as “Love God, Love people.” This can be found in http://esv.to/Mt22.37-40
Now look at what happened as a result:
1. The Lord was with him
This has got to be very cool. Especially in the old testament before Jesus died for us so that the Holy Spirit could live in all of us. Back then, even if a lot of people followed God, only very few select people could be said of them, “The Lord was with him.” We are very blessed to live in today’s world, were we do have the Holy Spirit residing in us as a seal of our relationship with God until we see Him face to face.
2. Wherever he went, he prospered
I’m at Cornell, and I definitely want to prosper here. I want to prosper in the workplace and everywhere else too. When I do homework, imagine me finishing it all in an hour compared to the hours it usually takes me haha. In ministry, in my small group, in my discipleship times, just imagine all of it prospering because of my relationship with God. Now that’s pretty awesome.
Continue to be faithful to the Lord. Love Him with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. Make disciples.
Share this: