July 2 -- Cymbals are cool!

Reversing the shadow: 2 Kings 20:1-22:2

Away with him! Acts 21:18-36

Praise him with cymbals: Psalm 150:1-6

Slackers are working for destroyers: Proverbs 18:9-10


Today I want to blog about the passage from 2nd Kings. If you recall, Hezekiah was a king of Judah who flat out loved the Lord. Hezekiah had no sons. For anybody living in that part of the world at that time, dying with no kids was the worst shame you could have. The idea was that you must be a really horrible person to be cursed with being childless. Add to that the fact that Hezekiah as a king and had no son to pass the throne too. This was no doubt part of Hezekiah’s desperation in his praying to God.

Then something kinda cool happened – God heard Hezekiah’s prayer & healed him! I say “kinda” because it may not have been the best thing. You see, because God healed Hezekiah, Hezekiah went on to have a son, who grew up to betray the Lord & even encourage others in his kingdom to do the same. Amon even sacrificed his own son, Hezekiah’s grandson, to the fire god. I bet if Hezekiah had forseen what God did, he would have prayed a prayer that was more of “Your will be done”, than “please, oh please save me.”

Martin Luther once said, “"Blessed is he who submits to the will of God; he can never be unhappy. Men may deal with him as they will...; he is without care; he knows that 'all things work together for good' for him"”