The Power of Impending Invasion
Hezekiah was a king of Judah, the southern half of the nation of Israel after the post-Solomon civil war split the kingdom. Both 2 Kings 18 and 2 Chronicles 29 indicate that Hezekiah was a pretty good king.
The Assyrian army was in the midst of ransacking the northern Kingdom, Israel, and began invading Judah. So, Hezekiah began to prepare for a war against the Assyrian army. 2 Chronicles 32 indicates that significant improvements were made to Jerusalem’s defenses, many weapons and shields were made, and the army was reorganized.
But the battle never happened. Hezekiah, distraught by the threats made by the Assyrian king, plead with God for His help and God replied, “So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
“He will not enter this city,
nor will he shoot an arrow here.t
He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors,t
nor will he build siege works against it.
33 He will go back the way he came.
He will not enter this city,” says the Lord.”
2 Kings 19 goes on to say that the angel of the Lord destroyed 185,000 Assyrians that very night.
The slouch in me wonders, “Was all of that time wasted repairing city walls, and doubling the protection around Jerusalem? Was it really necessary to reorganize the army and make weapons and shields?”
The reality is that sometimes in order to make necessary changes all we need is the threat of an impending invasion on our way of life. Our health fails, we get a bad review at work, we get a speeding ticket, a freedom is threatened, or our spouse threatens to leave and all of the sudden we are motivated to get the work done.
The reality is, as a Christian, I am always under the threat of invasion. I just choose to live my life most of the time as if I’m not. I would get a lot more work done in reference to working out my salvation if I’d be continually aware of the threat.
Why do you work?
Why do you work?
It may seem like a simple question, but there are multiple layers to the answers we give.
Answer 1: Because I can. I work because I can work. Somehow someone saw me as valuable and they hired me to do a job that was worth doing.
Answer 2: Because I should. God interpreted man’s existence quite simply in Genesis 2:15. He was to work and care for creation. A few thousand years go by and God commands a nation of former slaves, who undoubtedly worked long days every day, to work six days and rest on the seventh (Exodus 34:21). And in Thessalonica Paul instructs the church that he who does not work should not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10). I earn a living and this should be a testimony to the redemption that has taken place in my life.
Answer 3: Because I am. I am an ambassador of Jesus Christ. I am an adopted son of the Most High God. I am bought by the blood of Jesus to do good. I have been reconciled with God to do what God originally intended. So, in the use of my skills, gifts, and talents I glorify Him who gave His life for my sake. Creating, serving, working are acts of worship because I am Redeemed.
Thoughts inspired by Ann Voskamp’s Do You Feel Broken And Fragmented?
Manger Managers
Reading through Proverbs I ran across this verse in the ESV.
Proverbs 14: 4 “Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.”
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Immediately I imagined myself in the manger shoveling crap, spreading straw, and replenishing hay. I had two pictures in my head at the same time. The first was one with a scowl on my face, cursing the ox “How could so much come out of one animal?” I would work all day and fail to appreciate, not only the ox, but anything else. The second picture is me working with a smile on my face glad that the ox is healthy enough to produce so much crap so that I would not only have something to do, but the energy to do it because that ox helped plow the ground that produced the crop.
The circumstances of the job remained the same, but the attitude of the worker, me, made the job seem worth doing.
The more we are able to appreciate the benefits of our work the better job we do and the more fun we have doing it. This concept actually applies to every circumstance.
Too often we make changes in our lives based upon circumstances when in reality the change that needs to happen is within. We change jobs, neighborhoods, even spouses because we think the environment is to blame. The unwillingness to look deep within leads to death.Failing to make those heart changes will eventually lead to a dead ox and a dead manger manager.