Faith

If I spend too much time analyzing world events, I can easily get overwhelmed.  I believe my husband often avoids the news channels because he knows how quickly I can get worked up into a “end times are comin’” frenzy.  These episodes are not healthy and neither is avoiding information about the world around me.   I believe God has helped me over the years find a balance.  Not perfection, but a balance.  I have been reading about King Hezekiah in 2Chronicles and I have been so impressed with his poise and faith in God even when faced with Assyrian threats of destruction. As Sennacherib, King of Assyria,  is about to invade Judah, Sennacherib writes  to the Israelites in 2Chronicles32:17 “..As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand.” Clearly Sennacherib knows very little about the God of Hezekiah.  In his mind, Judah would suffer the same fate as all the other kingdoms he had so easily conquered.  Hezekiah is truely faced with a possible "end of life as he knew it" scenario.  I have to stop here and contemplate what my response would be to this situation.  Fear?Faith?Retreat? Hezekiah took action. He prayed and prepared  for battle against the Assyrians.  He rebuilt walls, he rerouted the water supply and made weapons.  He also had faith in God and shared his faith with his people in 2Chronicles32:8 “With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles.  And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah King of Judah.”  Just looking at trending issues in the news like the election, Syria and Russia, can make you wonder just how anything good could possibly be coming.  I am sure the people of Judah could have slipped into the realm of fear and doubt, but they kept the faith.  I can tell you good things did come for Hezekiah. God sent an angel that wipes out the Assyrian army and Sennacherib flees to his homeland where he is killed by his sons we are told in 2Chronicles32:21 “And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the King of Assyria.  So he returned with shame of face to his own land.  And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.”  Hezekiah did what I need to do in so many areas of my life.  He does all that he could do to prepare for the battle and then committed the rest to God.  He did not ignore the issue at hand, and he did not work himself into a frenzy.  He simply prepared and trusted God.  Sounds so simple right?  I passed a church sign a few days ago that really stuck with me it said, “Pray for strength not for ease”.  So many times I pray for God to make my paths “easy” and “comfortable” but sometimes life is going to get bumpy.  Things in our country may get downright tumultuous. When I feel a “frenzy” coming on I simply to try remember, “God will see us through it or He will see us home.” And that is a beautiful truth for all believers.