Time For God to Work

“Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.” (2Ki 19:19 AV)

 

Hezekiah, king of Judah, prays the following words upon the siege of Jerusalem by Assyria.  The king of Assyria addressed the elders of Judah claiming the gods of all their opponents could not save them.  Therefore, Jehovah could not save Jerusalem.  The Assyrians were correct in that the gods of the pagan nations were powerless.  The gods which they worshipped were not gods at all.  They were the work of the hands of those who worshipped them.  They were wood or stone plated with gold or silver.  They were a work of art, but no god.  Jehovah, on the other hand, is the one, true God.  The only God.  The God of all those who seek Him.  The God of all who have come to trust in Him.  This is the God of Israel.  This is the God of Jerusalem.  This is the God of Hezekiah.  The prayer above is for God to show His enemies who and what He is.  I could not help but think of our godless world.  The world is not interested in cohabiting with the saints.  They want God eradicated from the whole world.  It is not enough to disagree.  They want no dissent.  They are not looking for compromise.  They are looking for complete defeat.

I remember the closing moments of Shindler’s List.  The Jews were held captive in a factory tasked to manufacture ammunition for Nazi Germany.  Most had lost hope.  But some knew the Allies were coming.  They listened for and expected the Allied forces to liberate them.  They were in deplorable conditions.  They didn’t know from day to day whether they would make it or not.  They were in the right and Germany was in the wrong.  The Allied forces meant more than simple liberation from prison camps.  The Allied forces represented their right to exist.  The Allied forces were not merely tanks, planes, and soldiers.  They were saviors of their identity and culture.  They are and were God’s people.  If Germany was allowed to succeed, Israel would cease to exist.  The closing scenes of the film showed the occupation forces abandoning the factory and the Jews standing around, not knowing what to do.  They slowly went out of the buildings and saw Allied planes in the air.  They knew their saviors had come.  In one scene, the truth that right wins over wrong was dramatically obvious. 

God’s people should never be so comfortable in this life that we do not want to see the return of Christ.  The understanding of jealousy is used a few times in the word of God.  It is said God is jealous for His people.  But it is also encouraged to be jealous for our God.  It should bother the believer the world thinks so little of God.  It should disturb the saint if the world thinks God is powerless to stop it.  It should insult the child of God their Father is the brunt of jokes, the object of ridicule, and the One whom all defy.  The saint should not sit comfortably while the world seeks to destroy the people of God.  We should not lay down and powerless and hopeless fish out of water.  We have a weapon.  It is called prayer.  Just like Hezekiah, our prayer should be for the return of Jesus Chris and that His honor be demanded from all those who hate Him!  The god of humanism is growing stronger and stronger.  It will not stand against the King of kings and Lord of lords.  He is the almighty God.  We need to pray that He returns and asserts that truth!