Broken Kingdoms: WK4 - MON
Forgetting What is Behind - 2 Kings 18:1-7
1 Hezekiah son of Ahaz began to rule over Judah in the third year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done. 4 He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan.
5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. 6 He remained faithful to the Lord in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the Lord had given Moses. 7 So the Lord was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did. He revolted against the king of Assyria and refused to pay him tribute.
I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about what you want on your epitaph/grave stone, but I have. When I die, I hope people remember me as someone who loved Jesus, his family, and life, helping others find joy and laughter along the Way. Fairly simple, but it helps put my life into focus.
But my epitaph is nothing compared to Hezekiah’s. “There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. He remained faithful to the lord in everything, he carefully obeyed, the Lord was with him.” I mean, I don’t think I could even stand anywhere near this guy’s shadow.
What a contrast to last week’s king, Ahab, whom we were told did more evil than any of the kings before him. Talk about polar opposites.
Hezekiah’s father was King Ahaz, but according to 2 Kings 16, they were cut from different cloths. Ahaz “followed the example of the kings of Israel, even sacrificing his own son in the fire…” Suffice to say, Ahaz was not a good man, let alone king.
During the course of this week, we’ll see that Hezekiah’s greatest strength was his dependence upon God, but he wasn’t perfect. If the kings of old teach us anything, its that we are badly in need of Jesus. But Hezekiah did a lot of good and we can learn a lot from him, even if his family line wasn’t the best.
In fact, there is something familiar to me in Hezekiah’s family history. I know I’ve shared before, but my McCoy family history has a lot of blood and violence in it, for at least two generations. In my office, I have a picture of my grandfather McCoy on the wall. I never met him; he died when my dad was 16 from complications from black lung (a coal miner’s disease) after having been in a cave in. In the picture, my grandfather is reading his Bible. To me, it’s a reminder that we don’t have to be what we were, change is possible. My grandfather wanted his family to be different, followers of Jesus, not people of violence.
Hezekiah chose a different path than his father, and from his father’s father, and his father’s father. He chose to let God be the author of his story, and to let God lead through Him to the people of Judah. Maybe you and I, no matter our past life or choices, or even our family history, could let God rewrite our lives as well, allowing us to live here on out as blessings for and reflections of Jesus.
13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV)
1 Hezekiah son of Ahaz began to rule over Judah in the third year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done. 4 He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan.
5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. 6 He remained faithful to the Lord in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the Lord had given Moses. 7 So the Lord was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did. He revolted against the king of Assyria and refused to pay him tribute.
I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about what you want on your epitaph/grave stone, but I have. When I die, I hope people remember me as someone who loved Jesus, his family, and life, helping others find joy and laughter along the Way. Fairly simple, but it helps put my life into focus.
But my epitaph is nothing compared to Hezekiah’s. “There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. He remained faithful to the lord in everything, he carefully obeyed, the Lord was with him.” I mean, I don’t think I could even stand anywhere near this guy’s shadow.
What a contrast to last week’s king, Ahab, whom we were told did more evil than any of the kings before him. Talk about polar opposites.
Hezekiah’s father was King Ahaz, but according to 2 Kings 16, they were cut from different cloths. Ahaz “followed the example of the kings of Israel, even sacrificing his own son in the fire…” Suffice to say, Ahaz was not a good man, let alone king.
During the course of this week, we’ll see that Hezekiah’s greatest strength was his dependence upon God, but he wasn’t perfect. If the kings of old teach us anything, its that we are badly in need of Jesus. But Hezekiah did a lot of good and we can learn a lot from him, even if his family line wasn’t the best.
In fact, there is something familiar to me in Hezekiah’s family history. I know I’ve shared before, but my McCoy family history has a lot of blood and violence in it, for at least two generations. In my office, I have a picture of my grandfather McCoy on the wall. I never met him; he died when my dad was 16 from complications from black lung (a coal miner’s disease) after having been in a cave in. In the picture, my grandfather is reading his Bible. To me, it’s a reminder that we don’t have to be what we were, change is possible. My grandfather wanted his family to be different, followers of Jesus, not people of violence.
Hezekiah chose a different path than his father, and from his father’s father, and his father’s father. He chose to let God be the author of his story, and to let God lead through Him to the people of Judah. Maybe you and I, no matter our past life or choices, or even our family history, could let God rewrite our lives as well, allowing us to live here on out as blessings for and reflections of Jesus.
13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV)
- Is there anything from your past (history, family, choices) that you’d like to leave in the past?
- How do we break family cycles to help bring about something new for ourselves, for our families, for our communities?
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