Make Love, Not War

The slogan rang out in the late 60s and early 70s as the young adults in America tried to convince the government to pull out of Viet Nam. They were tired of the brutal war that was taking the lives of their friends. They feared being sent to die as well. And while the slogan was the beginning of a sexual revolution that took our country into a huge slide when it came to respect of others, and strength of marriages and families, it was not totally void of being a good idea. It was just that the love was focused in the wrong direction.

When Hezekiah became king of Judah, he immediately set out to teach the people to focus their love on God. He followed his father Ahaz who had been one of the worst kings Judah ever had. The country was in shambles because he had desecrated the temple and followed after other gods, even sacrificing his own sons in the fires as he worshipped other gods. The king of Aram and the king of Israel had pilfered his country and taken prisoners (though Israel did return the prisoners at the request of Obed, the prophet). (II Chronicles 28) But Hezekiah set out immediately to turn things around and get rid of the idolatrous worship and turn the people back to the one and only true God.

While other leaders would have begun to rebuild the infrastructure of the country and try to fight the countries who had invaded their land, Hezekiah “opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and repaired them. He brought in the priest and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side and said, ‘Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your fathers. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary. Our fathers were unfaithful; they did evil… turned their faces away from the Lord… This is why our fathers have fallen by the sword and why our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity. Now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us. My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense.’” II Chronicles 29:3-11

Hezekiah demonstrated godly leadership. The first thing he did was get the temple of the Lord cleaned up and got the priests and Levites back into position doing their duties. It took them 16 days to clean out and purify the temple again, but they stuck with it and got the job done. The very next morning king Hezekiah was there with offerings and sacrifices. “He stationed the Levites in the temple of the Lord with cymbals, harps and lyres in the way prescribed by David and Gad the king’s seer and Nathan the prophet… As the offering began, singing to the Lord began also, accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel. The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the singers sang and the trumpeters played. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed. When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped… they sang praises with gladness and bowed their heads and worshiped… So the service of the temple of the Lord was reestablished.” II Chronicles 29:25-30; 35

Once he had the priests and Levites functioning again, he invited all the people in Judah and Israel to come and celebrate the Passover together. He not only invited his own nation of Judah to return to the Lord, but extended the invitation to Israel (who had just raided their nation a short time ago). “ People of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your fathers… do not be stiff-necked… submit to the Lord… for the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him.” II Chronicles 30:6-9

While many from Israel scoffed at him, some did come and join in the celebration. “Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the Lord.” II Chronicles 30:12 Through praise and worship of God, the people were united again.

I imagine that at the beginning of Hezekiah’s reign, the people were disheartened, wounded by the invasions that had taken some of their loved ones into captivity and taken the treasures of the land. Hezekiah, with God’s wisdom, first ministered to the hurts of the people and taught them to worship God again. After four years of rebuilding and refocusing the spirits and the minds of the people, they were threatened by Sennacherib, king of Assyria. Now came the time of testing to see how deep their love for God had grown. Would they trust God to meet their needs or cave under the taunting from Sennacherib? Would they trust Hezekiah’s leadership?

I wonder what Hezekiah was thinking at this time. He had spent four years telling the people to trust in God and God would take care of them. But it appeared at the moment, God was not taking care of them. They were under siege. II Kings 18-19 tells the story in more detail how Hezekiah laid out the words written by Sennacherib before the Lord and asked for God’s mercy and protection and how God wiped out the army of Sennacherib. The people of Judah did not have to do anything but worship God. They loved the Lord their God and worshiped him rather than war with their enemies. God took care of them.

As I read the stories of the different kings, I find that those who were able to humble themselves before God and trust in him were the ones who were successful kings. Those who were full of pride and were self-seeking were the ones who led their nation to destruction.

I wonder if I can learn from this… Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18 Lord, may I remain humble before you and trust you completely with my life that I may experience your goodness and mercy as I follow you.

Truth or Consequences

When I step back a few steps from Ezekiel and look at the book, it seems to be a picture of God making a great attempt to call his people back out of their sin to a holy relationship with him. When I step into the heart of Ezekiel in chapters 22-23, I begin to wrestle with what it means to step away from the heart of God and get bogged down in the world’s wisdom – or the lack thereof. I want to know where these people went wrong so I don’t go down the same path they took. I want to understand God’s holiness and his judgment on the nations.

God is using a picture of prostitution when speaking of Samaria and of Jerusalem. The people begin to look to the wealth and military protection of other nations to take care of them rather than looking to God to take care of them. Their trust was no longer in God. He became an empty religion to them. They went through the rituals, the celebrations, feasts, and sacrifices, but their hearts were not in it. Along with their sacrifices to God, they were making sacrifices to the gods of the other nations and one by one breaking all of the commandments – “See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; In you they have oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths… shedding blood…commit lewd acts…violate women… commits a detestable offense with his neighbor’s wife… accept bribes… make unjust gain from your neighbors by extortion… commit robbery… oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice…. Ezekiel 22:6-29

“I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” Ezekiel 22:30 God’s heart seems to be weeping for his children who have chosen to walk away from him. He has so much to offer them, but they chose the cheap trinkets, dangled before them, seduced by the nations who would become their enemies.

Finally, God says, “Enough! I will no longer protect you, but turn you over to the consequences of your sins.” (Ezekiel 23:48-49 – my paraphrase) So often, God is accused of enacting violence on his people. But it is not God’s character or will to hurt his people. Rather, he withdrew his protection at their request and allowed them to suffer the consequences of their decisions to follow the wealth, power and wisdom of this world. God knew that it would turn on them and destroy them. He tried to talk them out of it many times. But they closed their ears to him and in their own selfish and stubborn ways, chose to follow after that which God had tried to protect them from.

So I wonder… Am I being seduced by the wealth and power in this world? Am I placing my trust in other people, nations, wealth, doctors, etc. rather than in God? When difficult things happen, do I look to the world to fix it or do I look to God to use it to his honor and glory?

I am grateful that we live in a different time. We do have someone to stand in the gap – Jesus Christ. I am grateful because I know that even when I try my hardest and am at my very best, when I stand next to a Holy God, I don’t look too good. Yet, Jesus was willing to stand in the gap, forgiving my sins and shortcomings, allowing me to come into the presence of God’s holiness, encouraging me to see him as my Father – my “Daddy” who loves me and cares for all of my needs and covers me with his protection and has a glorious eternity planned for us together.

And as I enjoy this special relationship, ‘hanging out’ with God, I begin to become more like him in character – loving others in ways I could not before, being concerned for the weak, the poor, those who suffer at the hands of injustice and desiring for others to come into his presence and understand they are loved by him as well. My personal pride, self-esteem, etc. becomes less important because it is no longer me, but “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

Thank you Jesus! I choose your Truth over the consequences of my sin.

More than Satisfied

Sometimes problems arise in our lives that seem insurmountable. It would be easy to move from hope to despair. But Jesus didn’t come to bring despair. He did not throw up his hands and say, “There is nothing that can be done,” or “There is no way out of this one.” Nor did he just fix it and walk away. He took opportunities as they came and taught those who would be taught more and more about the loving heart of God and his ability to supply all of our needs.

The crowds had been following Jesus listening to him teach and watching for miracles. Jesus sat down with his disciples and looking out over the crowd said, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” John 6:5 Just prior to this comment, John notes that, “The Jewish Passover Feast was near.” John 6:4 I wonder if they were thinking about food and where they would be eating the Passover. Any guests would be invited to participate in the Passover with their host family. Is it possible Jesus was jarring their thinking and even suggesting that these people in the crowd were their guests and they would be responsible to come up with food for them all? The first step to solving a problem is to recognize that you have a problem. Quite possibly, the first point of Jesus’ lesson with his disciples was that God’s heart is tender and notices when people are in need.

“Philip answered him, ‘Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’” John 6:7 Step two in this lesson plan seems to be that we need to evaluate the magnitude of the problem. We need to be sure we know what we are dealing with.

“Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’” John 6:8 Step three in this lesson plan appears to be to look at what we do have to put towards solving the problem. This is a hard place to be to see the magnitude of the problem and the lack of resources to solve it. It is where many people in ministry find themselves almost daily – so much need all around us and so few resources (time, talent, and money) to minister to the needs.

But this does not need to be the end of the story. Andrew’s bringing what he could find and giving it to Jesus was an act of trust. He didn’t say thanks to the kid and sit down and eat his lunch. He gave what there was to Jesus – every bit of it. Step four in this lesson plan might be to give everything we have and trust that God can use it, however little it is, to his honor and glory.

“Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.” John 6:11-13 Step five in this lesson plan would appear to be that when we give what we have toward a problem of great magnitude, God will take it and use it to completely satisfy those who are in need.

I wonder sometimes how what little I have can solve the world’s problems. I’m overwhelmed just thinking about it. How can one little person make any impact on this huge problem? There are whole countries going hungry. But God doesn’t tell me to take what I have and feed them all. He tells me to take what I have and give it to him and he will feed them all. Research says that there is enough food in the world to feed everyone. No one needs to go hungry. The problem is that some are not even aware others are starving, some who are aware are ‘shut down’ by the recognition of the immensity of the problem and feel helpless, and many don’t recognize that God can multiply what little we have to bless many.

I wonder, do I trust God enough to give him what little I have? In this lesson plan, the end result is that the needs of everyone are satisfied. The little boy who shared his food, the disciples and the crowd were all fed. And there were more leftovers than the original food Jesus started out with. When we give what we have to God, we are not just satisfied. We are more than satisfied!

Lord, help me to share freely what you have blessed me with so that you can multiply it and everyone can be more than satisfied.