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July 19th

The Bible reading today is in 2 Kings 18:1-8, 2 Chronicles 29-31, Psalm 48.

The reading today speaks to my heart. It talks about spiritual leadership. Some inspiring and some not so much.

For almost 50 years, I've been a husband to Bev. In Christ, God has given me the role of spiritual leader in our marriage and family. For 48+ years I've been a pastor in the local church. In Christ, God gave me the role of spiritual leader in 6 churches.

A spiritual leader at home, and a spiritual leader in the church. Some of it good. Some of it not so much.

Let us listen to God’s testimony of Judah’s young king Hezekiah...and then we will listen to God’s testimony of some of the priests.

“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.”

‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭18:1-8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God said: There was none like Hezekiah...one of a kind...among “all” the kings of Judah.

One of a kind In Courage: He would not give in to the bullying tactics of the king of Assyria who had already defeated the 10 tribes. He took on the Philistine war machine as God directed, all the way to the capital, and struck the terrorists down.

One of a kind in “Spiritual Leadership”: Hezekiah would not give in to popular trends concerning worship. People were using the altars to foreign gods to do their “half-hearted” worship of their Savior. So Hezekiah pulled the foreign altars down...destroyed the foreign idols that had been left in their places across Judah and Benjamin for several generations. It took guts to take that stand. And God honored it.

Wonder what it was that God used to inspire spiritual desires in Hezekiah? We know that it probably wasn't his wicked father Ahaz. But I'm guessing. So I believe it was his mother, Abi, daughter of Zechariah, the prophet. And think about it, God uses moms and grandparents to influence the children too!

So this young king was known in heaven for his undivided devotion to God. Hezekiah trusted in his Lord, especially when he was called on to wait. That’s a hard one. And he would not depart from following the Lord, even when friends did.

Was Hezekiah a perfect king? No, not by a long shot. But his nation was blessed through his leadership. A godly leadership. Courageous and faithful.

Hezekiah was good...but our King...was and is better by far. Praise You, Jesus, for faith to accept redemption’s assignment, and courage to voluntarily suffer and die so that we could be saved...our Lord...our Savior!

So what about the priests in today’s text? Well, God replaced many of the priests with laymen. Why?

Well, that’s the rest of the story.

Have a great day!