Set this beautiful world aright for us.
Answer our humble prayers from tender hearts.
O God, ride the heavens to our help.
O God, turn our worlds right side up.
II Kings 22:19 - No better way to live than with a heart that is tender and a life that is humbled before God.
Hezekiah knew.
He became mortally ill. Isaiah told him to set his house in order for he was not going to make it. Yet Hezekiah replied to the God He trusted: Remember now, O LORD, I beseech you, remember how I've walked before you in truth with a whole heart ... and he wept bitter tears. There is no one like the God of Jeshurun who rides the heavens to our help ~ Deut 33:26.
And God changed His Mind, instantly. No waiting on this one.
I heard your prayer.
I saw your tears.
I will heal you.
We just don't know in this life what God will send, reverse, bless, re-direct. Our goal is not to control our circumstances, never to demand that we think we know what our Good God should do. God give us tender hearts, humbled under Your Mighty Hand. II Kings 22:19. Our ambition is God Himself.
PRAYER FROM PSALMS
Psalm 20:5 - God, would you fulfill our petitions. May we lift up our banner in Your Name Alone and put an end to this ambition of ours.
BIOGRAPHICAL READING PLAN - Hezekiah: II Kings 20
OVERVIEW: II Kings 20-22
Image: US National Archives
Annette, I can't get the formatting right when I do the blog on my Mac. I click on the icon that says to remove the formatting but it will not allow me to change it. Can you remove the formatting? Thanks, Bev
ReplyDeleteGot it. Sorry I wasn't on sooner today. Love, Annette
DeleteThanks. What am I doing wrong? Give me a call when you can and let me know.
Delete6Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord. ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord. ‘Some of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you will beget, will be taken away; and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Is it not so, if there will be peace and truth in my days?”
ReplyDeleteIs it not so, if there will be peace and truth in my days? If we are not careful we focus on the immediate - IE being delivered from a dreadful illness and do not see the big picture - All that is within my house, what was stored up by ancestors, and my children will carried away to Babylon, and decide we've received a good word.
Oh Lord, I ask You to show us when we are focused on the here and now and not the plan You laid out for us before the foundation of the world. Help us Lord to remain focused on You and Your will. In Jesus' Name I pray.
Lord, some of these people on this blog, I have never seen face to face. Don't really know who they are. But their hearts are exposed here ... and they are beautiful. Thank you for sending them our way! Touching our hearts! Leaving your Fragrance!
ReplyDeleteI have had anything but a tender heart toward one person this day. Yet, I read this again and think to myself---I'm so touched to want to have a tender heart. What's my problem? Why can't I really change? It's not about how strong our will is. Col 1:29 ~ it's all about the Beautiful Christ so powerfully at work in each of us. Come Lord Jesus!
ReplyDeleteWe lay out our plans, petitions, prayers before the Lord. What is next we do not know, but if we lay them before Him, He hears. We don't know that He will heal the way we desire, but we do know we can trust this loving God to take care of us and see us ultimately and magnificently into His Presence. Whether we live or die, is that really the issue? Just let our living be for the One Who deserves the glory.
ReplyDeleteHezekiah served the Lord. He made mistakes, but He sought the Lord, and God heard his cries. He served Him with a whole heart. He wept bitter tears of repentance and he trusted the Word of the Lord through Isaiah.
I've loved reading about Hezekiah these past two days. He's one of the under-appreciated men of God of the Bible. Maybe it's just my under-appreciation, but I feel tender toward him as he wept today.
And I appreciate his story this evening.
Humble us to whole hearted devotion, Lord. Let us lay out our case, the letters of plots and plans before You. Go before us and fight for us the battles that could so easily defeat us, but for You. Thank you for access to Your Ear. Thank You for knowing our frame and having mercy. It's all because of You that we even dare ask for anything. You've already given more than we could ask or imagine. We thank You, Lord, that You are even mindful of us. In Your Mighty Name. Amen.
Amen....so love your heart.
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