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Someone who completes a task lazily can be as damaging as someone who intentionally destroys things. Lazy work leaves results which will fail spectacularly at the worst time.
God’s very name is a strong protection. Those who do His will can run to it and find safety.
Let us praise the Lord with every means at our disposal. The psalmist calls on us to praise God loudly and boisterously. Let us make sure that there is no doubt that we worship and praise the God of Heaven, who created both heaven and earth.
When Paul spoke with the elders of the Church in Jerusalem, they were concerned with the rumours which were spreading about his teaching. There were many Jews who were both followers of Jesus and dedicated to following the laws of Moses. The Church leaders were afraid that the rumours that Paul was teaching Jewish believers to abandon the Law of Moses would damage their faith. So they asked Paul to demonstrate that he still followed Jewish law. Paul agreed to their request.
I suspect that to some degrees the leaders of the Jerusalem Church and Paul were hoping that Paul’s demonstration of faithfulness to the Law of Moses would reach some of those Jews who, so far, had refused to accept the teachings of Jesus. However, the actual result was different. What we see happen is that some Jews who were vaguely familiar with Paul’s missionary work assumed to worst about his actions in Jerusalem. They claimed that Paul had brought Gentiles into parts of the Temple where non-Jews were prohibited. This whole story should serve as a reminder to take the way non-believers characterize the actions of Christians with a certain amount of skepticism. Non-believers are likely to interpret the actions of Christians in the most unflattering light imaginable. Before we believe what they say, we should investigate what actually happened carefully.
We were told in an earlier passage that Hezekiah did what was right in the sight of God. In today’s passage, when Hezekiah was deathly ill and Isaiah told him that God had said that he would die, Hezekiah turned from everything and prayed to God, begging God to heal him. God listened to Hezekiah’s prayer and sent Isaiah back to heal him. After his recovery, the king of Babylon sent envoys with gifts and letters of concern. Hezekiah gave them a guided tour of Jerusalem, showing them all of the treasures of his kingdom. Isaiah came to Hezekiah after the envoys left and told Hezekiah that the Babylonians would come and take all of the treasure which Hezekiah had shown the envoys. I had always understood Isaiah to be criticizing Hezekiah for being welcoming to the envoys, but I am not sure that is the case. Perhaps Isaiah was just telling Hezekiah what would be. Certainly, Hezekiah was not disturbed by Isaiah’s prophecy since Isaiah said that this would not happen in Hezekiah’s lifetime.
For all of his good points, Hezekiah failed to raise a son who would serve the Lord after him. We are told that when his son Manasseh took the throne, he did evil in the sight of God, rebuilding the shrines on the high places which Hezekiah had destroyed and instituting pagan worship practices throughout the land. In addition to his idol worship, Manasseh killed many innocent people who stood in his way (or perhaps he killed them for his own entertainment, the passage does not explain why he killed them). Hezekiah’s grandson was no better when he was king. Yet, for all of that, Josiah, the great grandson of Hezekiah, returned to the worship of the Lord. As I read through the passages about the kings of Judah, I see how each generation must decide for themselves whether or not they will serve the Lord. A good father might have an evil son and an evil father might have a good son. It is up to each of us to decide whether or not we will serve the Lord.