The Promises of God

"In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, 'Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.' Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, and said, 'Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.' And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: 'Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.'"

(Isaiah 38:1-3, ESV)

In English, it sounds like God is saying, "I have definitely decided that you are going to die" and then changes His mind. This doesn't square with God's sovereignty and immutability. I think he is saying "Hezekiah, you have a terminal illness and under any normal circumstances, you will die" in order to impress upon Hezekiah the seriousness of the situation.

However, the situation is not just that Hezekiah doesn't want to die. His city also is being threatened by the Assyrians. But more seriously, Hezekiah at this point in time does not have a son. If he dies, it is the end not only of his family line but also of the line of David. God promised to raise up a king from the line of David who would reign forever. This is why God introduces himself as "the LORD, the God of David your father..." as a reminder to Hezekiah that God remembers his promises and will fulfill them. Hezekiah says "...like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom..." referring not only to his own death but to the end of his line and David's line.

Hezekiah's Response to the LORD

"Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness;

but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction,

for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you;

those who go down to the pit do not hope

for your faithfulness.

The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day;

the father makes known to the children your faithfulness.

The LORD will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments

all the days of your lives, at the house of the LORD."

When it comes down to it, Hezekiah has to rely on God's grace: "In love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back." He recognizes that he really can't do anything about the situation, and submits to God's ruling. But even more, he has the humility to admit that "...It was for my welfare that I had great bitterness..." He sees that God's ways are higher than his, and that the suffering he has gone through has actually been for his benefit.

"Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, 'Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.' Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, 'The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.' For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my days.'" (Isaiah 39:5-8, ESV)

God makes it clear to Hezekiah in this passage that Hezekiah WILL have an heir - "Some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father..." (emphasis added). I think that is part of the reason why when God tells him that awful stuff will happen to his people and his descendants, he is okay with it - at least his line will not be cut off, and God's plan will continue even in the face of impossible odds.

As a tangent, I am not convinced that this passage is suggesting that God is punishing Hezekiah for showing off his wealth to the Babylonians by giving them eventually to the Babylonians. Certainly what he did was wrong (see 2 Chronicles 32:24-33). However, I don't think it fits in with God's character for God to (essentially) say "You showed off your wealth, huh? Well try this one on for size! They're going to get it all! Ha!". I think it is more likely that the emphasis of this section is to show Hezekiah a little bit more of God's plans - Firstly, that the line of David will not be cut off, and that there will be tough times ahead. God may reveal this information to Hezekiah to humble him and show him the deception of storing up wealth, but I don't think that it is because of Hezekiah's sin.

Jack Crabtree points out a similar passage in Luke. Zechariah, who has no children, is in the temple serving as priest when Gabriel appears to him to tell him he will have a son. Zechariah responds to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years. " The angel's responds: "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time."

It is generally assumed that Zechariah is being punished because he did not believe. However, he is actually asking a reasonable question: "How is this possible?" Gabriel's response of telling him he will be mute until the events come true is an ever present physical reminder to Zechariah that he will in fact have a son. So when Zechariah woke up the next morning wondering if it was all just a dream, there would be no option but to recognize that it would certainly come to pass. Zechariah would not have felt anything but joy when he realized he couldn't speak - even if it might have been a bit frustrating at times. He and Elizabeth would have desperately wanted a child, in the way of Jewish culture at that time and probably (very similarly to modern Indonesian culture) it was a sign of disgrace to have no children. But God, despite the seeming impossibility of the situation was gracious and fulfilled his plan by giving Zechariah and Elizabeth a son, just as in the case of Hezekiah.

When Gabriel appears to Mary to tell her she will have a son, her response is similar to Zechariah's: "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" God also gives her a sign, or reminder of the fulfillment of the promise. Her sign will not be that she is unable to speak, but even more obvious: she will be pregnant! And thus God would fulfill his promises, awaited by Mary, Zechariah, Hezekiah, David, and countless others who looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. Let us rejoice in God, who is gracious to us and fulfills his promises even when they seem impossible.

The Father of Lies

One thing I have noticed in my own life is that often I am swayed to and fro by my emotions. They tell me all sorts of contradicting things, often at the same time. Often I find that these keep me from drawing close to God and lead me to have bad attitudes about life. So where do these emotions come from? Jesus encountered a similar problem with the crowds in John 8:
"Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:43-44)
The problem is that we are believing lies from the devil. Why? Because it's how we are. In our sinful nature, we want to believe lies. What is the solution? Counteract them with the truth! Be specific about telling yourself what you know to be true.
Some of the common lies I encounter:

"You're better than that person." WRONG! Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We all stand equal before the cross of Christ our Lord.

"Since you're not better than that person, you can't be right about ___ idea or action any more than they can." This is a sinister one. Having recognized that we are equal in the sight of God with other people, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that all people are exactly the same. This is simply not true. God draws people from different places and teaches them different things at different times. In 1 Corinthians 12:14-18, Paul writes: "Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be." I know in my own life I often was kept from thinking or acting rightly because others in authority did not think that way, and so even though I knew that something was right, I felt guilty for doing something that they didn't - as if I was prideful for being able to see something that they didn't. Of course, it is also very easy to fall into the first lie again once you escape the second one.

"You aren't good enough to commune with God right now. You need to do some other things first, or else God won't accept what you have to say."
I think this is the most serious and dangerous lie, and also the one that has the most widespread effect across Christendom. When we believe that God is more or less pleased with us positionally depending on what we do or don't do, then the devil has many opportunities to stop us from being effective and growing. We already have victory in Christ, if He is dwelling in us. Not we can have; we have His righteousness covering our sin and His spirit sanctifying our lives. 1 John 5:11-12 says: "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." If we have this salvation, by faith and through grace, then our worship is accepted by God because of the work of Jesus Christ. This is something to be joyful about! Our God has conquered sin and has promised to work all things out for the good of those who love Him. (See Romans 8) So if we know we have Jesus Christ in our life, then we have no reason to be worried or afraid. These worries and fears come when we believe the devil's lies that say we aren't good enough or that God doesn't want us to come into his presence for some reason. Hebrews 10:19-23 puts it this way: "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." God himself has given us FULL access to his own throne room - the Most Holy Place. If we shrink back from guilt, then what we are saying is we don't believe that Christ is faithful and has forgiven us. We need to preach the truth to ourselves.

Faithful in small things

So I had a thought this morning. It went something like this: "God, show me what You want me to do, and I'll do it." Okay, fair enough. But then I didn't have a flash of inspiration about some great calling or a vision of some glamorous work. Instead, it came in a still small voice: "Haven't I asked you to serve me humbly and contentedly where you are, to love people sacrificially, even when they don't love you back, and to love Me with all your heart, mind, and strength?"
You see, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?" (Luke 16:10-11, NIV) In the same way, God wants to make us faithful in the little things, the un-glamorous and un-fun things, before he uses us to do big and awesome things.