Hezekiah prayed, “Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” – 2 Kings 20:3 (NIV)
Have you ever noticed in the OT you read; “he did evil in the eyes of the Lord” or “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”
Wonder if anyone today finds their column and gives it a trumpet blast? Or, tries and hides their evil walking under their skirts. The Prophet Jeremiah in Chapter 13 verse 26 records the happening when hiding is one’s theme. “I will pull up your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen-”
Hezekiah prayed. Great reading. Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery…”Remember now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Return and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD.…”
Dosen’t this bring song from the depth of your soul? Bless The Lord, O my soul and all that is within me…
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Amen. The Lord is merciful and gracious. I do see where Hezekiah, not exactly perfect in deed all the time, still he told the LORD….”I walked before you in Truth …[ and this is the part that caught my eye ] WITH A WHOLE HEART. In other words Hezekiah had godly intentions and attitudes in his life. He may NOT have been perfect but his attitude and intention were toward the Lord his God.
The Lord weighs the intentions of our hearts. If we are doing stuff for ”show” with an arrogant attitude, or as our Sunday School teacher says…’to grab the glory for ourselves’, then that nullifies the deed done. “If I speak with the tongues of angels and have not love I am nothing and nothing I do, matters” YIKES!!
I guess I had better get out my notebook and draw my columns like Hezekiah did. Sara showed us…Column A [ right intentions, good deeds directed by the Lord] Column B show off and self motivated giving, doing, running off ahead of God….[ like He can’t tell us what to do!!!] Sounds a little like an ancient angel we have learned about…used to be quite a worshiper of the Lord but he got kicked out of Heaven because of his pride. Hmmm. Let’s see. Column A….uh, uh, uh,…to be contid.
Thanks Sara.
Mg, you mention above that Hezekiah walked before the Lord with a whole heart. As I read Hezekiah’s story from another translation (NLT), it used the phrase ‘have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.’ To me that meant he was not double-minded as James warns of. James 1:8 has this to say about a double-minded person: “Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” It seems single-mindedness would produce just one column of doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord and that would be something to really give a ‘trumpet blast’ about as Sara writes above. But double-mindedness would put one in the number 2 column evil category. You mentioned pride also, MG, and the Sunday school lesson you referred to had a quote by C.S.Lewis that speaks volumes: “Pride is the mother hen under which all sins are hatched.”
Sara you asked regarding Hezekiah’s illness and recovery and a column of doing right, “Dosen’t this bring song from the depth of your soul? Bless The Lord, O my soul and all that is within me…”. Yes, it does. What a blessedness and encouragement to doing right and a terror of doing evil…I am working on my columns.
Debi, it’s true that a ”whole heart” is an undivided heart or put another way a united heart..[presumably united with the heart of God]. Having a heart united to God’s heart is surely a way to walk blameless before Him. Philippians 2:12b, 15 reads, ” work out your salvation with fear and trembling that you may be sons of God without rebuke in the midst of perversity and corruption among which you may shine like lights in this world.” This blameless walk is a walk of obedience.
And speaking of columns…. I would say that deeds, good works and sacrifices done in obedience to God would be listed in COLUMN A.
I’m working on mine, too. Right now I seem have quite a bit of space left in Column A. Back to work. or should I say back to obedience.
There was a time in going to church, especially Sunday nights the saints of the church would give what was know then as a testimony. (Might still happen I don’t know). It might cover issues just like Hezekiah. Or, a Dorcas story found in Acts 9….”Peter Raises Dorcas from the Dead vs.36) “Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated in Greek is called Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did. 37) And it happened at that time that she fell sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upper room. 38) Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him, “Do not delay in coming to us…. Peter went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the upper room; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them. 40) But Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.…”
I would say columns are very important. Wouldn’t you?
Matthew Henry’s commentary on Dorcus…Acts 9:36-43 “Many are full of good words, who are empty and barren in good works; but Tabitha was a great doer, no great talker. Christians who have not property to give in charity, may yet be able to do acts of charity, working with their hands, or walking with their feet, for the good of others. Those are certainly best praised whose own works praise them, whether the words of others do so or not. But such are ungrateful indeed, who have kindness shown them, and will not acknowledge it, by showing the kindness that is done them. While we live upon the fulness of Christ for our whole salvation, we should desire to be full of good works, for the honour of his name, and for the benefit of his saints. Such characters as Dorcas are useful where they dwell, as showing the excellency of the word of truth by their lives. How mean then the cares of the numerous females who seek no distinction but outward decoration, and who waste their lives in the trifling pursuits of dress and vanity! Power went along with the word, and Dorcas came to life. Thus in the raising of dead souls to spiritual life, the first sign of life is the opening of the eyes of the mind. Here we see that the Lord can make up every loss; that he overrules every event for the good of those who trust in him, and for the glory of his name.”
The Lord our God is our example of gratitude and appreciation. He reciprocates in the most stunning style that our minds can barely grasp. For example when the Centurion sent to Jesus to ask Him to heal his honorable servant Jesus was told that this centurion loved Israel and built a synagogue for them. Jesus honored that good deed and healed the servant with the Word of God.
As Sara exposited above, Tabitha who made linens for the poor was raised from the dead, seemingly as a thanksgiving for her noble deeds.
And,oh… I wondered if the ”widow of the mite” whom the Lord commended for her generosity in giving all she had, is the same widow of Nain whose son Jesus raised from the dead. That is pure conjecture but still so like Jesus’ in His generosity and appreciation. That is just a thought.
When Peter loaned Jesus his fishing boat for use in preaching to the throngs on the shore, Jesus reciprocates with a catch of fish that overwhelmed even the dour Peter and almost sank the boat…153 fishes.
And the biggest and greatest of all examples is the reward and reciprocation that Father God gave to Son Jesus for going to the Cross and dying for love of the world for Father God longed to be reunited with His humanity that He created.
Father God reciprocated in thanksgiving and gratitude to His Son by raising Him from the dead and seating Him on the throne in Heaven on the right hand of Father God. !!!! What a great thank you that was! And what a great sacrifice was the cost.
In these cases the gift of thanks wasn’t just a ”mere nod and saying, hey, thanks” but the sacrifice of thanksgiving is what I hope to learn to do with all my heart and soul in the style in which Jesus and Father God give their thank yous!!!!!!!
Column A might fill in at least one line!
“I would say columns are very important. Wouldn’t you?”
Yes, that encouraging story of Dorcas you shared Sara really showed that columns are life or death. It looks like from ‘all the widows’ crying that she must have repeatedly thought about and done much with her gift for others.
Btw….I was praying for Sara and looking at column A and filling in the things I know and have observed of her works and deeds and it fills many lines in Column A….however, I was not permitted to fill in anything in column B mainly bcz I couldn’t find anything to put there. That’s what it will be like when the books are opened in Heaven’s BIg Restaurant in the sky. 1000 from Column A…..nothing from Column B!!! Hallelujah!!!! I want my columns to look like that, too. I had better hurry up!!
I’m going to claim benefits from that A column. I believe we have many good, great deeds to trumpet for others and ourselves.
Just start to think how our world could change with more A Columns. I just heard about a new TV show called briefcase. If I heard right the guest gets a briefcase with cash. Then the have to make decision if they are going to give away to someone more needy them them.
I thought maybe we should all be in a similar decision making daily.
Sara, that’s an interesting theme for the ”world” to come up with….making decisions to give to someone more needy than they are. This sounds very familiar. I wonder where they got THAT idea from??
I guess as we detach more & more from the world we find ways to share our resources with others more needy than ourselves…and there are many.
I found out in my COLUMN B that I have excess or which to share and repent of, that column filling up fast as I look about me and make decisions to share, give away, lend, etc all the Lord has been generous to allow me to have….and my taking uneeded advantage of His abundance. Now the reckoning comes.
MG, a major decision but easy if God’s way and timing….I pray wisdom for you.
Thank you, Sara, for the prayers. I truly appreciate them.
Ok that goes into your Column A!! Good job!