It is Right to Ask

I love the story of Hezekiah. The intimidating Assyrian army is just outside their gates because Hezekiah had decided to no longer give in to their demands. I love what it says Hezekiah did. “He went into the temple of the Lord.” And the coolest thing . . . the Lord heard him and helped him.

This army had a history of obliterating those they went up against. And on that basis Hezekiah could have crumbled and given in to their demands. He could have reasoned that it would be better to muddle through life than to risk not having life. He could have wondered why the Lord would help him when He had not helped so many others.

I wonder sometimes when I pray, why I expect to be helped when there are so many who have it so much worse. Whether I am praying for myself, my family or someone else, I wonder. It is tempting to give in to the demands of life.

Instead, I make the same decision that Hezekiah made. I go into the temple of the Lord. I believe it is right to ask for what is right rather than to accept what is wrong. I believe the Lord gave us this story of Hezekiah to show us that He is in favor of us asking for what is right.

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Honoring Special Days

I am the worst. My wife is the best. She never misses a card. I rarely have one to give. I don’t dislike special days; it’s more that I like making some days special and they just don’t ordinarily fall on the days already laid out. Maybe as I approach a special day, I start seeing it as a formality. I don’t like formalities. Yet when I get the card my wife picked for me, I like it and regret that I didn’t take the time to do the same for her.

I did the same thing this past weekend. Only this time it was Jesus’ special day. I blew right by all the Good Friday posts – formality. I blew by most of the Easter Sunday posts. But later that day it hit me what I had done.

This morning, though a little late, I made an ordinary day special. As I was writing my thoughts, I remembered a couple things I had read recently. In 1 Kings 13 a man of God, after his mission, set out to return the way God told him to return. He turned down an offer to do otherwise. While he was on his way, another man of God caught up with him and made him a similar offer. The original man of God accepted this time. He started well but he didn’t finish well. It cost him his life.

This morning I thought of it in relation to Jesus. He not only started well but He finished well. In my opinion, the most pivotal point in human history is the point recorded in John 12 where Jesus decided to finish well. He was struggling. John is the only one that records it. I can’t improve on how Jesus put it. John couldn’t either evidently. He used Jesus’ very words.

“Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” John 12:27

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