The quick and the dead

So many times when faced with a burden or a difficult times or fears the natural response is fight or flight. Jump in and solve the problem or when it feels like everything coming too fast or its too heavy we run or stick our heads in the sand. There is another option and its unnatural but its the key to life.

Stop take a moment to breathe and then pray. This seperates the spiritually alive and the dead.

Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. - Psalm 55:22

I love the record of 2 Kings 19: 9 - 37

Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king [of Egypt], was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them: the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?” - 2 Kings 19: 9 - 19

Hezekiah would've felt fear and doubt when he read this message. What to do? Ignore it? Call a friend? Strike first?

Nope. Confront the brutal facts head on and pray.

Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16Give ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.
“It is true, O Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by men’s hands. Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.” - 2 Kings 19:14-19

God answers Hezekiah's prayer...

Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him:
“‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you.
The Daughter of Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee.
Who is it you have insulted and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
By your messengers you have heaped insults on the Lord.
And you have said,
“With my many chariots
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
the choicest of its pines.
I have reached its remotest parts,
the finest of its forests.
I have dug wells in foreign lands
and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
“‘Have you not heard?
Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it;
now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
into piles of stone.
Their people, drained of power,
are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
like tender green shoots,
like grass sprouting on the roof,
scorched before it grows up.
“‘But I know where you stay
and when you come and go
and how you rage against me.
Because you rage against me
and your insolence has reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you return
by the way you came.’
“This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah:
“This year you will eat what grows by itself,
and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
Once more a remnant of the house of Judah
will take root below and bear fruit above.
For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,
and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
“Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:
“He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.
By the way that he came he will return;
he will not enter this city,
declares the Lord.
I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.” - 2 Kings 19:20-34

It feels so good when someone stands up for you, how much more when that person is the Living God. I almost feel sorry for Senacharib. He broke into the wrong country as we see when we hear the end of the story...

That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king. - 2 Kings 19:35-37

Be quick to pray.

Mettle

Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,

For I wait for You. - Psalm 25:21

I read Genesis chapter 3 today and two thoughts stood out for me: 1) That there are some things that believers should be unreasonable about and 2) That husbands should not abdicate their spiritual leadership.

In the garden of Eden Eve ran into someone "more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made" and was essentially able to be reasoned into eating the forbidden fruit. All of us are limited in knowledge, understanding, wisdom and cunning therefore we will always be at risk of running into someone more intelligent or more cunning armed with a fine-sounding argument. If the debate is about a matter of faith we need to follow Jesus' example and stand on the word of God and not the arguments of man or the serpent of old.

Adam seems weak and appears to have abdicated his leadership. The bible says Eve was deceived but it doesn't say that Adam was. I think it's worse than that because it sounds like he stood idly by and said nothing when it was happening.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened,... - Genesis 3:6-7a

He was with her... and said and did nothing.

How can I learn from his example? When I'm watching a movie? Or maybe in conversation? Or making important decisions? Surely there's a time to apply this lesson today. And when we are alone it's just as important to rely on God's word to make a stand and demonstrate the mettle of our faith.

Integrity is nothing until its tested and the truest test is when no one's looking.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. - Ephesians 6: 10-13