Sunday: Learning from a King’s Mistake
Read the account of Hezekiah’s healing and the visit of the Babylonian ambassadors. 2 Chron. 32:25, Isaiah 38:1-39:11; 2 Chron. 32:31
Scripture points out that the messengers were interested in the miraculous recovery of King Hezekiah. However, Hezekiah seems to have been silent about his healing experience. He didn’t emphasize the things that would have opened the hearts of these inquiring ambassadors to the knowledge of the true God.
Hezekiah
The contrast between his gratitude for being healed in chapter 38 and his silence about it in chapter 39 is striking.
“God left him to test him”.This state visit was a most significant occasion; yet, there is no record of Hezekiah seeking special guidance about it in prayer from prophets or from priests. Nor did God intervene. Alone, out of the public eye, with no consultation with spiritual advisers, Hezekiah apparently let the work of God in his life and in the life of his nation recede from his mind. The intent of the historian in 2 Chronicles 32:31 may have been to show how easily God’s blessing can be taken for granted and how prone the recipients of His mercy are to becoming self-sufficient.
Below are some lessons about faithfulness in home life that can be gleaned from the experience of Hezekiah. What others can you think of?
Every visit to the homes of Christians is an opportunity for people to meet followers of Christ. Few visitors are likely to open conversation about spiritual things. Christians must find ways that are sensitive and appropriate to the occasion to share the good news.
Christians are not called to show off their material prosperity or accomplishments, though they may recognize these as blessings from God. They are called to “declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet. 2:9, NIV) or, to use Hezekiah’s experience as a symbol, to declare that they were dying, but Christ has healed them; they were dead in sin, and Christ resurrected them and seated them in heavenly places (Eph. 2:4-6).
| In what ways are you able to use your home to witness to others? How could you share your faith in Christ more forthrightly with visitors to your home? |
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We are fond of saying that the church is not a building of bricks and mortar but the people. Yet, sometimes, we miss that point. I can think of a period in my own church congregation when our large church building housed a congregation that was fraught with arguments and criticism. It was tough being a member at this time and the experience emphasized the need for putting a serious effort into building a strong cohesive congregation. Sadly, we also went down the path of personality cult leadership as well; with the same fractured consequence.
While we need buildings to worship in, and wise leadership, we need to understand that our effectiveness as gospel messengers is ultimately when we as a congregation reflect the love of Jesus to the people within the sphere of influence. Micah had some wise words about where we should be:
I sometimes think about that when I hear the church in boasting mode.
My church suffered the same problem about 5 years ago, and still suffers to this day.I visit other churches on Sabbath a lot of times, because the very air in the church is toxic! We have no pastor, for almost a year now, and the one we had did his best to keep the church fractured, through lies and innuendo. The church is run by the head elder and his wife, who is also an elder. She is the one who started this whole mess! Our little church used to be a kind, loving, Christ-filled place of worship, but no more. The air is so thick you can cut it with a knife! One former pastor told a new pastor, "Don't get on her bad side, or you will regret it." He was right! The new pastor, who was much loved, didn't last a year. When he left that was the beginning of the split. If we have 30 people for services that's a big crowd. We used to have a membership of over 100! The conference doesn't listen to us. They think we are trouble makers. Please pray for us.
Hi Susan, we will definitely pray for you and your church. However, this seems to be a growing trend in our churches at this moment in our church history; my church also had a split about 4 years ago. Our church was fractured by one of the elders spreading lies about our beloved Pastor, at that time, and about our seminary, Andrews University. That particular elder took half of our members with him when he decided to finally leave our church. God is still blessing us; however, now like your church, we only have about 30 people attending church on most Sabbaths, and that number is including the visitors.
Our new Pastor is great, and he is trying his best to motivate us, and to grow our church again. Our congregation is aging, most elderly people; you can count the number of children in our church on one hand. It really sad because we want to do evangelism, but the normal 10% of the workers has gone down to 1%, so it is very hard for us to do anything. I feel very bad that I can't do more, especially, when I see our new young Pastor doing so much to hold our church together. I don't know what the answer will be to grow our church again; it seems only Prayer is the answer at this point. Until then, we are still trying to do as much evangelism, and spreading God's word to those around us. Please pray for our upcoming VBS week, in July, that we will have a lot of children and families from the community to come out.
Have a Great day everyone, be Blessed!
Thanks for your comments Toni. Unfortunately nothing is going to change until the elder’s wife is no longer in church. She makes all the decisions regarding the church. We’ve had several (4) pastors since the split and she’s run all of them off. Our children’s program is nonexistent. We used to have a thriving Pathfinder club, half which were non Adventist, but one pastor killed it. We have 5 kids now and no VBS. No one wants to take it on. I can’t because of poor health, but am willing to advise and help were I can. I will pray for your church as well.
A message to the church elders and pastors.
Stop it!!!
It's Christ's church,stop it!
The church members are His, stop it!
You are there to shepherd not to do what you are doing, stop it!
In fact I'm very angry to hear all this and this is exactly what is happening to almost all the churches I know. Currently they have split a conference in Nairobi Kenya and called themselves Nairobi cosmopolitan conference. Please stop this, it's too much!
Where can I report this errand pastors and elders?
To the church board, no! To the GC, no! No! No!
But I'll tell it to Christ in prayer.
My brother I am so in agreement with you! It hurts my heart when I hear things like these because I have experienced it but nothing is too hard for the Lord!
For my above brethren, something can be done about it!!! Whether you are aged are ailing, nothing beats prayer and fasting. God will intervene at the appropriate time but your part is to intercede like your life depends on it. Our church is fractured too because a sister wanted to be in control and run the church. Nothing is wrong with some of the things she wanted done but the way she was going about wasn't according to scripture and the members, especially the new converts felt pressured. But some of the members decided that this isnt the way and the Board and it's members voted to silence her for 6 months. All her offices were taken from her. Offcourse her close friends werent happy and the church was divided but we engaged in fasting and prayer and some of us decided we'll not be distracted by it and we prayed and encouraged them. We encouraged members not to dwell on the negatives and whenever the lobbying started we nip it. Our church saw a change and we are bouncing back. There are persons still hurting from her behavior but the tension is no longer there as before and she has been more submissive. We expressed our love for her and to her and her family. As children of God,we have to reach the place that we call sin by it's rightful name and even if that includes Conference Leaders. It doesnt matter if that member(s) is influencial in the church/community, but it must be done in love and by the example of Christ.
Engage in an every Wednesday Prayer & Fasting for these situations or 40 days of Prayer. Write names on paper and produce your cause everyday before the Lord. I know God allow some of these things at times to reveal what's in our character and spiritual temperature of the church and too many times it's the members who've given these brethren that power because we rely on them too much instead of God. True they may have played pivotal roles in the church but when we operate on what man can do instead of what God can do in us we will see the church operating as a business and very soon it will plunge in darkness. We need instead to be a loving congregation(a hospital where all can come to be treated). We/I know also that the enemy is very busy in the churches and wheat & tares will sit together until the day of harvest. So we'll have issues but the devil is not more powerful than God! And this shouldn't take away from the worship experience, evangelistic thrust or growth & spiritual experience of the church. God must have a witness & a voice to stand though the heavens fall. God will have men/women stand for truth, who'll not be bought or sold but will stand on the side of truth and lift up a standard! My brethren I will join in prayer and include your church on our prayer list. Prayer knows no boundary!
I will certainly pray for you and your church “family”. I’m also of the same issues with my church, we used to be a family of 150 now we are a small band of faithfuls of 30 who come to worship faithfully. God Bless your small but strong faithful in Christ Jesus.
The church is comprised of people who are broken, and according to the Word of God, righteousness as filthy rags. According to James, we have the power through prayer to change things. God says nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37, Genesis 18:14 and Jeremiah 32:17). We can change the climate of our places of worships through heartfelt petitions to God. Matthew 7:7 says we have not because we do not ask. God is all powerful and able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above what we can think or ask (Ephesians 3:20). Trust Him.
"The church in boasting mode". When I read those words my mind went back to the time my then-teenage son invited a friend to church. It was the first and last time his friend attended. That particular Sabbath a GC member gave the report of the world mission. To us as Adventists it was a report, to our son's friend it was a boasting session.
For the past 30-odd years we have been sharing the Message with the family by way of literature and DVD's with no avail. Unfortunately we live far apart and have no-one in the German language to spread the Word and do Bible studies amongst the German-speaking people.
Satan is using language,culture and racism as tools to halt the progress of God's message in Namibia. Our traditionally 'white' church which was a vibrant congregation catering for the 'Europeans' of Afrikaans, English, German and Portuguese origin can no longer be called a church due to lack of members - except that it claims ownership of the church building. National pride and racism has eclipsed Godly Love and those who didn't agree with the use of 'Afrikaans only' were told they could find another church.
Within the capital city we have something like 9 or 10 churches and companies filled to capacity by the local indigenous people and members from neighbouring countries. Sincere loving people where I personally enjoy worshipping. However, in Africa culture separates us and reaching people of European heritage can only be done with God's intervention. About two years ago the church we belonged to for over 50 years split and formed an 'all nations' group, first consisting of disillusioned English and Afrikaans-speaking members, some who had reached the point where they were ready to leave the Adventist Church because of the dictatorial rule and unforgiving spirit of the elders and the lack of understanding and intervention by the local Conference. However, God has blessed our group and currently new members have been gained and European members have a place they can worship as the lingua franca is English and a culture one they can relate to. We have Zambian and Zimbabwian members too, who live just around the corner from the church, but who could never attend due to the language barrier. Now they are part of our new church family and a blessing we would never have been allowed to experience had we remained within the un-Christlike atmosphere of our 'National' church. Our constant prayer is for Christ to intervene and bring us all together again, that we can stand as one before our Father's Throne.
THanks for the mission story.
Had not God intervened in healing Hezekiah, Israel would have been spared not only Babylonian captivity, but the birth of his son, Manasseh, who became the most important negative influence on the nation that sent them to captivity. It teaches us that we don't know the end from the beginning and whether our lives my be tending when confronted with a need of delivery from a health matter. Not that we shouldn't ask for healing, but always in the attitude of, "Thy will be done." Hezekiah doesn't seem to have requested in that spirit.
Then, too, we see a great God at work even through this significant mistake made by Hezekiah. In the end the wicked king Manasseh is himself converted per Chronicles record of his rule. Reading his life you would think Manasseh was a long way away from ever having the chance to come to repentance. God knows best.
It can get a little discouraging to see how many towering biblical figures fail to cross the finish line of faith. Noah responds to God with audacious faith, building an ark despite scoffers and years of waiting. Yet his story ends with him lying drunk and disgraced in his tent. Moses, the man who led God’s people out of the worst slavery they had ever known, couldn’t go into the Promised Land because of his sin. Even David—a man “after God’s own heart”—steals another man’s wife and murders hundreds to cover it up. He ends his life in a desperate civil war with his own son.
Like us, many characters in the Bible start out with excellent intentions. And many of them even continue in faith for a while. But it’s tough to end well.
King Hezekiah offers a tragic example of this. Despite seeing one God’s most miraculous deliverances ever recorded–escape from Sennacherib’s 250,000+ strong army (2 Kings 19), without a single casualty, a battle military historian William McNeill calls ‘the most important battle that never happened–the conclusion of his life gives us a picture of a man utterly consumed with himself. The end of his life gives us both a warning and a promise.
Yes Dear Writer,
Although the many"towering Biblical figures" often have lives ending in a compromised situation, It reminds me of God's Grace! Were it not for grace none of us would be saved. We can do nothing to save ourselves and neither could the "towering Biblical figures" that you mention. Grace, Grace, God's Grace. Really something for which to be grateful.
What a wonderful but waisted opportunity given to Hezekiah. God so love him and reveal to him that he will Die there fore he should put his House in Order. It wasn't only for him to put his House in Order but also himself needed to be put in Order. He Should have appreciate God and Repent of all his Sins and then wait for the moment of his Death confidently. What I don't understand is Why didn't he see the previllege God gave him? Perhaps a careful look on the content of his Prayer will give a clue.REMEMBER NOW o Lord I BESEECH Thee,how I HAVE WORLKED BEFORE THEE IN TRUTH AND WITH A PERFECT HEART AND HAVE DONE THAT WHICH IS GOOD IN THY SIGHT. Isaiah 38:3
1.God does not forget that he needed to remind him of any thing beside it was not him but God working through him
2. How did he know that he walked before God in Truth and with a perfect Heart?
For me Hezekiah revealed his self-senteredness and worth in this his Prayer and he also revealed his Pride which beclouded his understanding of the Opportunity of Repenting God gave him. I stand to be cerrected please but I feel Hezekiah is simply saying Lord I am good and perfect enough in the heart you seams to have forgotten but Lord remember and you'll see that I actually deserve to Live to do more and God said okay since you believe in yourself like that I remove my hands go on since you are perfect and his self-worth could not even allow him to Testify God's goodness to thee Babylonian.
Please I stand to be corrected as these are only my imaginations on the Story.
Hi dear Brother,
Before we bash King Hezekiah's in the head too much, we must remember that a lot of us at doing the same thing today, but maybe not on such a large scale as Hezekiah. We too forget what God has done in our life, and/or show very little gratitude for His blessings. For example, when was the last time we gave a sincere gift to God to beautify His house, our churches? Many of our churches are struggling financially, and the Pastors have to beg people every week, people that know better, to please be faithful in returning your tithes and offering. Or many return their tithe of 10%, then give an offering to their local church of 1%.
When was the last time we personally (one on one) shared God's word with a co-worker or even a neighbor. We assumed, "They are not interested in going to church with me." But you never know until you ask them. We can also share our personal testimonies with our neighbor and co-worker. Just walk right up to them and say, "God blessed me in this and such a way, and I want to tell you about it". We go through our daily lives, and never even visit our neighbors; some of our neighbors maybe searching for God and just don't know where to go, or where to start.
We, like King Hezekiah, take God's blessings for grated in so many ways. When was the last time we give a sincere Praises and Testimonies to God for all He has done for us every week, every day. If your church does not have open Testimony time as a part of your church services, then write down your Praise and Testimonies in a journal, or share them on Facebook and other social media. Your testimony could be the encouragement that someone needs that is suffering; if they read or hear how God blessed you, then it may give them hope to pray to God for help too. You never know what a blessing your testimonies could be until you share it.
So, before we judge King Hezekiah, we need to make sure that our own house (our minds) are 'set in order'. I know personally that I have been guilty many times of taking God for grated, and missing opportunities to share His word and His blessings. Now my every day prayer is that God, through His Holy Spirit, lead me to the person, people, that are seeking Him. Use me, O Lord. Be blessed.
Hmm! Very well spoken. In fact, you spoke as if you are in my Church or Conference where I see plenty of people guilty of the points you pointed out from Hezekiah's Story. As the Sunday topic implies "Learning from a King's mistakes" it is therefore well done to point out the King's mistakes and then bring out the Lessons there in, for us in our generation. I am saying this with a very loud Amen!!! to your Prayer. Am equally sorry I don't mean to Judge King Hezekiah but to point out the mistakes, which I am not even in position. Thanks a lot.
I have realised one thing in our church,we have made things TMI and people have joined the church and we have given them the responsibility when they are not yet nature in the Adventist faith. and at end of it all they do what they think is right according to them even if it is against our faith.