I have a confession…I love apocalyptic movies. Movies like, Mad Max, Water World, Resident Evil….but I don’t buy into apocalyptic fears. I find the fear of the apocalypse is as fanciful as the world of Narnia, Middle Earth,
Hogsworth or
Degobah.
So in the past year or so, the fear of the United States falling into a depression, a socialist state, or that I need to go out and stock up on gold bars, or that for some reason we would fall into anarchy and apocalypse, just
hasn’t been a rational fear for me. In part because of my worldview, but more so because of my belief in who God is and what God can do.
I know that there are people who have lost their jobs, homes, and lifestyles, my heart goes out to them. Like many people I have feared the loss of my job, wondered when this economic
roller coaster would end, and how things are going to be turned around.
There is a wonderment in our society on what will happen and will everything turn out o.k. Sometimes we end up worrying about it and most of the time we just feel helpless.
Over the past two weeks I have been reading and rereading a particular passage of Scripture, 2 Kings chapter 19. In this section the Assyrian army has laid waste to most of the countries in the area and has now set its sights on Israel. King Hezekiah, the King of Israel, has reached out to God for help and the Assyrian King has continually insulted God and Israel and has the city of Jerusalem under siege. Life was hard, painful, and not at all what the people wanted.
Hezekiah went before God and in verses 14-19 prays a beautiful and authentic prayer. He acknowledges that God is God (sovereign), that God is Alive (real and active), and that God is the only one who has power to change what was happening.
As the passage continues we hear God’s response and see Him follow through with His actions.
One of the most powerful passages showing God’s intentional design and plan comes in verses 25-28:
Did it never occur to you
that I'm behind all this?
Long, long ago I drew up the plans,
and now I've gone into action,
Using you as a doomsday weapon,
reducing proud cities to piles of rubble,
Leaving their people dispirited,
slumped shoulders, limp souls.
Useless as weeds, fragile as grass,
insubstantial as wind-blown chaff.
I know when you sit down, when you come
and when you go;
And, yes, I've marked every one
of your temper tantrums against me.
It's because of your temper,
your blasphemous foul temper,
That I'm putting my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth
And turning you back
to where you came from.
- The Message Bible
In the face of this trouble God affirms for Hezekiah that everything that is happening is part of God’s plan. I personally like verse 28, where God is saying that He has recorded each of the King of Assyria’s “tantrums” against God.
As I have been reading this passage, I’
ve been reminded that whatever happens, whether it’s been a recession, a war, a lost job, an accident…WHATEVER HAS HAPPENED it has happened by the knowledge and planning of God.
As the chapter comes to an end we find that God’s plan
wasn’t just for Israel to go through pain, but it was also for Israel to receive blessings. God would once again bring the nation back together, have the nation once again put down roots, and once again be saved.