trust

Judah’s turnaround

King Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz king of Judah, began his reign within a few years of the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel. It says in 2 Kings 18:1 that Hezekiah began his reign in the third year of Hoshea’s reign, which would have been about 729 B.C. In 725 B.C., Shalmaneser V, king of Assyria, attacked Samaria and three years later the northern Israelite kingdom ended. From that point forward, only the kingdom of Judah was left and Hezekiah became the first king since king Solomon that had sole control of the Promised Land.

Hezekiah’s approach to managing God’s kingdom was the opposite of his father’s. Whereas Ahaz had practiced obscene idolatry comparable to the pagan practices of Syria, Hezekiah was devoted to the LORD and kept his commandments (2 Kings 18:6). Most likely, this was due to the influence of his maternal grandfather Zechariah. During the reign of Uzziah king of Judah, Zechariah was a spiritual advisor. It says in 2 Chronicles 26:5 that Uzziah “sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God.” No doubt, Zechariah also shared his understanding of these visions with Hezekiah. Perhaps, as a young child, Hezekiah had listened in as his grandfather counseled king Uzziah in the ways of God.

The difference between the reigns of king Ahaz and his son Hezekiah was like night and day. The dramatic change produced an almost overnight turnaround in Judah’s decline in stature. King Ahaz’s defeat by Pekah the son of Remaliah resulted in 120,000 valiant men being killed in one day and another 200,000 people being taken into captivity. In spite of this devastating blow to the army of Judah, king Hezekiah was able to reverse the conditions in which the Philistines captured Judahite cities and subdued the most dreaded enemy of Israel (2 Kings 18:8).

King Hezekiah’s dramatic turnaround of the kingdom of Judah was proof that God had not turned his back on his people and was willing to forgive their transgressions if they would put their trust in him. The sincerity with which Hezekiah sought the LORD was such that it says of him in 2 Kings 18:5, “He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.”

A sign

Isaiah’s first assignment was to speak to a king of Judah named Ahaz who did not believe in God. The nation of Judah was about to be invaded by a coalition of armies formed to oust king Ahaz and replace him with a puppet king referred to as “the son of Tabeal” (Isaiah 7:6). When Isaiah meets up with king Ahaz, he was checking his water supply to see if he could survive a long siege. It says of king Ahaz in Isaiah 7:2, “And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.”

The Hebrew word translated moved, nûwa‘ (noo´ – ah) means to waver. The king of Judah and his people were shaken up because during king Uzziah’s 52 year reign they had gained strength and were enjoying prosperity similar to the days of David and Solomon. It seemed unlikely they would need to defend themselves, but the threats made against them were real enough that king Ahaz thought it necessary to check his water supply. As Isaiah approached “the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field” he was instructed to tell king Ahaz to “take heed, and be quiet” (Isaiah 7:3-4).

Essentially, Isaiah was telling king Ahaz to take it easy and pay attention to what he was about to say. Isaiah had a message of comfort and encouragement to share with king Ahaz, but he wasn’t sure how his message would be received. King Ahaz was only 20 years old and likely had little or no military experience. His grandfather king Uzziah had only been dead about five years, and his father Jotham had done little to maintain Judah’s military strength.

After Isaiah told king Ahaz the plan to overthrow him would  fail, he said to the king, “If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established” (Isaiah 7:9). What Isaiah told king Ahaz was he needed to exercise his faith. More specifically, Ahaz needed to ask God for help and rely on God’s faithfulness, rather than trusting in his army to deliver him. Isaiah told Ahaz, “Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD” (Isaiah 7:11-12). Ahaz refused to give the LORD a chance to prove himself and earn Ahaz’s trust.

Following Ahaz’s rejection of God’s invitation to put him to the test, Isaiah delivered his first gospel message. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Isaiah went on to say that judgment was ahead and God would use the king of Assyria to devastate his people and ruin their land.

The sign God intended to give his people, a Messiah, indicated he did not want his people to be destroyed, but saved from their sins. In spite of his many attempts to win their favor, the people of Israel and Judah refused to put their faith in the LORD. In a message that was to be sealed up and kept as a testimony against Israel, Isaiah stated:

For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A  confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself: and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

 

 

Victory

Jehoshaphat, king of Judah was wrong about Ahab. He thought Ahab’s repentance was genuine, but Ahab never believed in the LORD. According to 2 Chronicles 19:2, Ahab actually hated the LORD. Jehoshaphat’s marriage alliance with Ahab opened him up to spiritual attack and he was vulnerable because the wrath of God was upon him (2 Chronicles 19:2)

Jehoshaphat was a strong spiritual leader, so when he realized he had made a mistake, he set judges in the land to encourage godly behavior (2 Chronicles 19:6), and charged the priests to serve God faithfully (2 Chronicles 19:9). When the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon came against Jehoshaphat to battle, Jehoshaphat “set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah” (2 Chronicles 20:3).

When Jehoshaphat sought the LORD in prayer, he reminded God of a promise that was made to king Solomon:

If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.

God’s response to Jehoshaphat’s prayer assured him that victory was possible, but a condition had to be met in order for their enemies to be conquered. The people had to put their trust in God.

And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall you be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.

The Hebrew word translated believe in this verse, ’aman is the same word used in Genesis 15:6 where it says of Abraham “and he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” This verse refers to Abraham’s relationship with the LORD. It was the point in time when he “came to experience a personal relationship to God rather than an impersonal relationship with His promises” (539).

God delivered Jehoshaphat and his people from the children of Ammon and Moab when they began to sing and to praise him (2 Chronicles 20:22). Their heartfelt worship was a genuine sign that they were devoted to God. Jehoshaphat’s success as a spiritual leader resulted in a major military victory for Judah.

I’m still here

The hardest thing to do when you are in a bad situation can be to sleep. In the midst of his trial with Absalom, David said, “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8). David knew the LORD would take care of him, but like everyone else, he had difficulty sleeping.

David had to make a conscious effort to calm down and be at rest. His way of handling sleeplessness was to talk to himself. David’s advice was to “commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still” (Psalm 4:4). The word translated still, dâmam (daw – mam´) means to be dumb or speechless and by implication to be astonished (1826). David was referring to his tendency to underestimate God’s ability. David had to remind himself that God could choose to do a miracle at any time and turn the situation around completely.

Sometimes waking up in the morning can seem like a miracle. You close your eyes at night thinking surely the world is about to come to an end and then you wake up and realize you are still alive. David said, “I laid me down and slept, I awaked; for the LORD sustained me” (Psalm 3:5).

A wonderful life

After David spared Saul’s life a second time, he said, “The LORD render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness” (1 Samuel 26:23). The terms righteousness and faithfulness were central to the covenant that God established with Abraham. A key scripture that should be familiar to all Christians is Genesis 15:6 where it says of Abraham, “And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

The righteousness that was counted to Abraham because he believed in the LORD is the same righteousness that David said will be rendered to every man. The word translated believed, ’âman (aw – man´) indicates that Abraham “came to experience a personal relationship to God rather than an impersonal relationship with his promises” (539). The easiest way to explain this type of believing is with the example of a baby being fed by his mother. The baby does not know what his mother is feeding him, he eats because he is hungry. He trusts that what he is eating is good for him because he senses that his mother loves him and is taking care of his needs.

Righteousness “is a legal term which involves the whole process of justice. In its causative pattern the meaning of the verb brings out more clearly the sense of a judicial pronouncement of innocence” (6663). David uses the word righteousness together with the word faithfulness because he knows that he will be held accountable for his actions according to what he knows the LORD has asked him to do. Abraham’s faith was put into action when he obeyed the LORD and left his home in Haran for a land that he had never been to. David refused to kill Saul because he knew that it was a sin, “for who can stretch forth his hand against the LORD’s anointed, and be guiltless?” (1 Samuel 26:9).

The word translated render in 1 Samuel 26:23, shûwb (shoob) means to turn back (7725). Shuwb is also translated as restored and recover. One of the ways to look at render is in the context of something that has been lost or stolen. The LORD says in Joel 2:25, “I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten.” He didn’t say he would restore the crop that the locust had eaten, he says the years because he is referring to the time and effort that was spent producing the crop. It is not the result he is concerned with, it is the investment, what was done by faith and with trust in the LORD.

When I became a Christian, I believed I was going to have a better life. All the pain and suffering I had gone through up to that point made me want something different. I believed I was going to get a new life, one that would be filled with love and happiness. I trusted that if I lived like God wanted me to, I would eventually get the life I was hoping for. Although I know I haven’t yet received all that God has planned for me, I can say with confidence that the LORD has restored all that was taken from me and given me a wonderful life.

In God we trust

Trust is very closely tied to expectations. As we get to know people, we develop expectations of them. Expectations are not just things we make up, they are based on experience and have logical reasoning behind them. Although expectations are often associated with circumstances, the main reason we think certain things will happen is because someone has caused them to happen and expectations help us to prepare for what that person is going to do.

The primary person we develop expectations of is God. Even people that do not believe in God still have a concept of God and therefore, have some expectation of what he will do. I think most people that do not believe in God believe he punishes people for doing bad things, and because everyone does bad things, they expect him to punish them. The choose not to believe in him to avoid punishment.

On the other hand, I think most people that say they trust God believe he rewards people for doing good things. They choose to trust him because they expect to get a reward someday. I don’t think it is possible to trust anyone unless you have some positive expectation of him or her.

David said in Psalm 56:3-4, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee, in God I will I praise his word, in God have I put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.” David knew from experience that when he was in a scary situation, God was with him. David developed an expectation of being delivered from dangerous situations because he had been delivered from dangerous situations in the past. Over time, David began to trust that God would always be with him and would deliver him from every danger that threatened his life.

The reason David recorded his personal experiences with God is because he knew that what was true for him was true for every Believer. God did not take care of David any differently after he was anointed to be king than when he was a shepherd tending his father’s flock. David learned that if he needed help, all he had to do was call out to God and he would take care of it.

When I cry unto thee, then shall my enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me. (Psalm 56:9)

When