I’m reflecting on the journey of the kings of Israel and Judah with the back drop of Ecclesiastes. It seems like I could sum things up with the verse from Psalm 127.1 Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. As I see the final captives taken from Judah, and the Babylonians coming in and destroying the city, the words of Jeremiah echo in my mind. He sought the Lord for Zedekiah, he brought truth to him. If he had surrendered, so many lives would have been sparred and the city would not have been destroyed. The Lord said so. Yet his pride didn’t want to accept to defeat. Everything that man labored to build and set up for the Lord was destroyed and crushed by the enemies. The people had kicked God out time and time again, it was only by His mercy that it didn’t happen sooner.
These realities make me reflect on my own attitude and heart as a leader. The decisions I make, the willingness I have to listen to the Lord and receive His instruction effects not just my life, but those that I serve. I don’t want to seek the Lord just to receive what I want to hear. I desire to have a greater humility to receive His word without hesitation. I keep thinking of how Hezekiah was able to choose to walk humbly and when reading the word of God he humbled himself to do all that it said. He did not raise himself up to be a king greater than God, but acknowledged God in all His ways and leaned not on his own understanding. Then there was also Josiah. He was only 8 when he became king, but by the time he was 16 he was seeking the Lord and by the time he was 20 he was removing the idolatry in the land. When the book of the Law was found and they brought it and read it to him, he tore his clothes and sought the Lord. He is an amazing example to me. The Spirit empowers a heart that is willing to follow the law the Lord so that it will go right for God’s people. God’s glory is displayed when trust and faithfulness in lived out. Regardless of age and peer pressure, corrupt politicians and the enemy at his doorstep, he walked solid with the Lord. He was the last good king of Judah.
Anyway, so as I read and reread these passages and reflect on the examples of obedience, surrender, pride, repentance, idolatry, leadership, there is so much to learn from the examples God has given us. Idolatry is on the rise in our own culture. The lack of trusting in God for all things, the surrender for cultural values that oppose the Lord, the comfort and numbness in wearing masks and being unwilling to deal with truth is rampant. I can see the loneliness and heartaches the prophets and good kings carried and i can’t help but realize that those of us that will walk in ways that honor the Lord God in all our ways, we will be outcasts and feel as foreigners in our own land. Well the truth is that heaven is truly our home. Phil 3.20 comes to life as we eagerly await our Savior from there. Eager becomes more of a heart reality than a mental acknowledgement. Which then also spurs the need to pray for loved ones that are still far from God.
So David, Hezekiah and Josiah are three good kings that did all that God commanded. I think they were the only ones that didn’t allow the high places to remain and they were thorough to remove all idolatry. It wasn’t a game. So I have to open my heart to God and seek the Spirit’s guidance. Have I walked well with the Lord, but have not torn down the high places in my life. I do not want to walk a life of partial obedience to the Lord. May the Lord search me and know and see if there is any offensive way in me and lead us in the way everlasting.
Just Walking 