6/10/2011 8:51:19 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Hezekiah the boaster Pt. 1
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 2Ki. 20:12-13;
2Chron. 32:27-30; Isa 39:1-2
Message
of the verses: “12 ¶ At that time Berodach-baladan a son of
Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard
that Hezekiah had been sick. 13 Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them
all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious
oil and the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasuries. There
was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show
them.”
“27 Now Hezekiah had immense riches and honor;
and he made for himself treasuries for silver, gold, precious stones, spices,
shields and all kinds of valuable articles, 28
storehouses also for the produce of grain, wine and oil, pens for all
kinds of cattle and sheepfolds for the flocks. 29 He made cities for himself and acquired
flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him very great wealth.”
“1
¶ At that time Merodach-Baladan son of
Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard
of his illness and recovery. 2 Hezekiah
received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses—the
silver, the gold, the spices, the fine oil, his entire armoury and everything
found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his
kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.”
Today’s
SD begins the eleventh chapter in Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on 2Kings, parts
of 2Chronicles, and a small part of Isaiah.
The title of his commentary is “Be Distinct,” and in this volume one can
read how the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah fall to the morals of the world
around them, and thus can be a lesson to the Church today. The eleventh chapter is entitled “The Making
of a King—Part II,” and the first main point is entitled “Hezekiah the
boaster,” and there are three sub-points under this first main point of which I
am working on the first sub-point entitled “Pride.”
Pride
was the subject of the last SD, and it is because that Hezekiah did not learn
his lesson of pride even after almost dying is to his shame. “Charles Spurgeon said to his London
congregation, ‘Be not proud of race, face, place, or grace.’” “William Barclay wrote, ‘Pride is the ground
in which all the other sins grow, and the parent from which all the other sins
come.’” Both of these statements are
true and good statements to memorize, for pride is something that when one uses
it robs glory from God, and that is something that one should not do. The very first sin that was committed against
God was pride, and covetousness was also involved too when Lucifer tried to rob
God of His glory by making five “I will” statements that are recorded in Isaiah
14:12-15. Satan is seen as a serpent and
also as a roaring lion and when the Babylonian envoys sent letters and then
came to see Hezekiah it was like a serpent, but when Babylon came to attack
Judah from 606 to 586 it was like a roaring lion, and the beginning of this
came with their visit to Hezekiah in this section of Scriptures.
Flattery
is the word that I have been searching for, for it was flattery that these
envoys were using on Hezekiah in order to see how strong Judah’s army was and
also to see how rich they were, and because of Hezekiah’s pride he fell for
this scheme. I tried to find some verses
in the Bible that spoke against flattery and came up with two of them: “Job 17:5
He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children
shall fail.
Pr 6:24
To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a
strange woman.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I would suppose that I have fallen to the
sins of pride and of flattery in my life, the later because someone used
flattery on me. There are times when I
am proud of the grace that God has given me, and my desire to know and study
His Word. I believe that my attitude
should be that because God has given me grace and because of that grace a
desire to know and teach His Word should be something that humbles me and not
something that brings pride to me. This
is something I need to confess and forsake in the future.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Forsake pride.
2.
Confess when I become proud.
3.
Continue to learn contentment.
4.
Trust the Lord that the meeting that I am going to
with Pastor Buller will turn out as He desires it to.
5.
Give myself to the Lord for worship and for service.
6.
Remember that Satan is both a serpent and a roaring
lion, and so the battle is fierce and I am in need of the spiritual armor.
7.
Proverbs 3:5-6.
8.
Psalm 139:23-24.
6/10/2011 10:01:15 AM
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