Tag: ahaz

10.s. Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world both low and high, rich and poor together!

Micah 1:1  The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.

Deuteronomy 32:1    “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

Psalms 49:1-2    Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world both low and high, rich and poor together!

Jeremiah 22:29     O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD!

Revelation 3:6    He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Isaiah 1:2    Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.

Mark 7:14-16     And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand:

Malachi 3:5   “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

I am amazed at all of the news, fake news, drama news, political noise new, posturing news, lying news, false news, biased news, partial truth news, unfair news, news on news, opinion news, news for ratings, news for fear, etc……… How can you believe any of it?  For everything that is reported  it seems people are willing to believe it is true.  They drink the kool-aid and don’t mind being led down paths that only a few short weeks ago they would have been up in arms over it.  If they read it in the news or hear it on the TV news it must be true and at the same time they are choosing this they read scripture or hear scripture and doubt it’s application of truth for today.

Hear the words of the Lord.  It is hard to hear when you are not listening. It is hard to hear when you are listening to something else.  We listen to what we want to listen too.  We choose to listen and give our attention to it.  If the Lord is speaking to you and you choose not to listen it will be to your detriment.  Scripture tells us we should b slow to speak and quick to listen.  Scripture will speak to our hearts, minds, and souls if we would choose to listen to what the Holy Spirit is confirming deep within our soul.  “Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you”

2.z. But they were the ruin of him

2 Chronicles 28:22  In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord—this same King Ahaz. For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.

Isaiah 1:5     Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

Ezekiel 21:13    For it will not be a testing

Revelation 16:9-11   They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.  The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish  and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

Hosea 5:15    I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.

Psalms 52:7   “See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction!”

There are times of testing from God.  These times are for our growth in knowledge and understanding of our heart and mind.  These times of testing reveal our deepest thoughts, beliefs, and intents within our heart, mind, and soul.  God uses these, in love, to draw us into a closer, everlasting, and meaningful walk with Him.  We come out the other side of testing with more reliance, trust, and obedience.

Ahaz was not in a time of testing.  He was making decisions and leading people who willingly followed him straight into the wrath and anger of God.  God is not mocked.  What a man sows so shall he reap.  You reap what you sow means you get what you deserve, whatever you put your time, talent and energy into is what you get back. You reap what you sow means you must eventually face the consequences of your actions.

When we are neglectful and complacent in our commitment, listening, and obedience to God the world and our sinful nature will fill this void with things that do not honor or glorify Him.  It will fill us with promises of satisfaction, peace and rest but will never deliver on them.  It will walk arm and arm, hand in hand with us into darkness, confusion, anxiousness, and proclaiming false hopes.  When the light of Jesus Christ is all but a dim flicker in our soul we will make an intentional choice to either extinguish or to fan it into a brilliant flame.  We will either repent and turn away from our wayward path or go deeper into darkness and apart from Jesus Christ.

Do not follow family, friends, colleagues, culture, or society into darkness.  Make an intentional choice to humbly return to the Light of Jesus Christ and make this your heart, mind, and soul desire.  Live in His presence every moment of every day.  Keep the light of Jesus Christ held high to stay on the path of eternity with Him.  Keep this light held high for others to see.  Live in the Light of Jesus Christ.  Keep thoughts and actions and words exposed to the Light of Jesus Christ.

183.And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may go well with you

2 Kings 18:1   In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.

Deuteronomy 6:18    And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may go well with you

Nehemiah 9:17    They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck

Daniel 9:8    To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.

Micah 3:4    Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time,

We can certainly see both sides of the coin in these 12 verses of 2 Kings 18.  Hezekiah, King of Judah, listened, believed, followed, obeyed, and did what was right in the eyes of God.  Hoshea, King of Israel, neither listened nor obeyed.  The outcomes of these two countries were very different.  Judah prospered during the time of Hezekiah and Israel was carried away.

What I make note of is how we are so easily swayed to walk paths that are not “Doing what is right in the eyes of God”.  It seems to take form when one area of life is allowed to dip its feet into what God has clearly said: “stay away from doing this”.   What we don’t realize is that once our feet hit the slippery bottom of what we are dipping into we soon are falling headlong into the pool of “Not doing what is right in the eyes of God”.  The pool does not look deep nor does it look like anything menacing, in fact, it looks inviting.  There are numerous ones who are there ahead of us and they call out with invitation too.  We might have been warned in the past to stay away from this but once we have gotten close and see others who seem to be enjoying the refreshing appearance of freedom our guard is down and our ears only hear the call of the forbidden.  We are so close now that the voice of God can not be heard over the noise of those to whom we have chosen to get close to and even join.

There is truth in “Right is Right even if only one is doing it” and “Wrong is Wrong even if everyone is doing it”  If we are going to do what is right we better know where to look to find out what right is.  If we neglect this book of truth we will not have the ability to hear the leading of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to know and understand follies of man.   It is easy to follow what seems right in our own eyes and it is easy to listen to ourselves.  Both of these actions will make us deaf and blind to the Word of God and knowing what is right in His eyes.

“Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”

Exodus 14:10   When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

Isaiah 7:2     When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

Matthew 8:26    And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

1 John 4:18     There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

It is hard to deny fear coming into our lives.  Sudden fear at an impending outcome takes over and that is all we can think about.  All of the negative outcomes.  All of the worst possible scenarios. All the bad and troubling things we think are awaiting our downfall.

The Israelites looked up and saw a massive well armed army approaching, they were hemmed in by the sea and no way of retreat.  The first thing they did was fear, then they cried out to the Lord, then they lost all hope.  They then spoke to Moses “What have you done?” “Didn’t we tell you to leave us alone?”

It is important to note human nature in responses to this crisis immediately after they had witnessed many miraculous wonders, signs and power of God over many days. Staff into a snake, river into blood, frogs, gnats, flies, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and firstborn deaths were all witnessed by the people.  It was not at the word of one to another, they all saw the Mighty work of God.  And, yet, they still fell into fear, doom, gloom, blaming, and hopelessness.

Think back in your life.  Are you any different?  Do you give up on seeing the Mighty hand of God work?  Do you even want to be in a situation where you see it?  Having any easy life does not do us any favors when it comes to serving God.  In fact it actually takes you down a path that sees no need for God in everyday life.  It places God on a back burner for sometime in the future when needed.

Our lives are to be set apart to seek and desire to humbly serve, honor, glorify, worship, praise, follow, and obey Him.  It is sad to say, but fully true  “We are weak and pitiful followers.  We lack intentional commitment, earnest desire, and the want to be in His presence.”  It seems as though we not only want, but expect, Him to be watching over us and bubble wrapping our lives from trials and trouble, without giving Him a second thought throughout the day.

If you do not have an ever present desire to seek to honor Him, how is it that you will know of His promises, power, might, strength, peace, joy, and hope when trials and trouble come?

We never know when God’s plans and purposes for our life will include trials and trouble.  We do well to be intentionally walking closely to Him, always seeking and desiring to hear His whispers and see His might work in our life.

Oh to be walking so closely to Him that in the face of trails and almost certain major unfavorable outcome we can speak like :Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If the God whom we serve exists, then He is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden statue you have set up.”

When doubts and fear cloud your day, remember to continually say over and over again; “My God is able to do more than the trial and trouble before me.  If He chooses to not show His mighty hand, I still will not fear.  I can rest in His loving hands and know I am in His perfect plan.”