All That Is In the Heart

STUDY: #849 CHURCH IN THE HOMES FROM: MARCH 10 @ 16, 2015

TOPIC: "All That Is In the Heart" 2 Chronicles 32:31 Every human has a point of view or perspective about things. If I, the shepherd, should deal with you any problem or concern, surely your point of view will come across. If I'm going to make a decision regarding the Church, I will also see each and every one speak according to their views. It is difficult to have everyone talk and agree on the same mind set. The reason is because everyone wants to do, or have done, according to HIS/HER CONVENIENCE! Therefore, it seems very difficult for humans to have the same mind set as God because everyone moves and acts according to their thoughts and desires. Even when things are this way, it is necessary for us believers to know and fight to have the same mind as Christ. It is convenient for us to have the same mind as the Lord Jesus, because that is where justice is (Romans 15: 5 "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ had..." 1 Peter 3: 8, 9 "Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate, and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing."). Let us consider King Hezekiah as an example of the importance of having the same mind as God, instead of his own. God had liberated Hezekiah and his people from the Assyrians, their enemies’ hand (2 Kings 19:35), and also healed him from a deadly disease (2 Kings 20: 5). When the king of Babylon heard what happened to Hezekiah, he sent ambassadors with gifts. (2 Kings 20: 12, 13 "At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness. Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses- the silver, the gold, the spices, and the fine olive oil-, his armory, and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.") Those ambassadors met with a man who failed to give the glory to God. Instead they found Hezekiah to be an arrogant man. Since he was with ambassadors, Hezekiah acted like them. He was the king, and he was not able to give God the glory for healing him, and for the miracle in which the Lord saved him from the powerful Assyrian army. Hezekiah looked at things as a king, and not as a man that God had healed and taken care of. God allowed the visit of the messengers of Babylon for one reason: to prove: TO SHOW HIM! TO LET HIM SEE EVERYTHING THAT WAS IN HIS HEART! God wants "to reveal" what we don’t know yet. God gave "life" to what was so hidden within Hezekiah. The Lord allowed the visit of the Babylonian ambassadors to pull out into view what existed in his life: pride! Wrath, strife, envy, anger and greed also come out to plain sight. Do you know how many things can be hidden within us that make us act the way we so often do? It’s not that there was no good in Hezekiah, but something had to be corrected: his pride. Our old creature, like a tree, wants to give the fruit of the flesh, and thus the righteousness of God is not produced. Our pride pours out AS IF WE WERE THE WINNERS INSTEAD OF GOD! God lets us know (giving life to what is hidden in us). He makes us understand through reasoning so we do not ignore what is hidden inside us.

Sure it became very common for Hezekiah to see God at work when he humbled himself and God forgave him. But at the moment that all was well, and he was put to the test, he did not correspond to God as he should have. It came out: the SELF CONFIDENCE! He found pleasure in his wealth, and vainly showed them off to the messengers of the king of Babylon. How many things have you thought you've conquered on your own? That has given you security and personal satisfaction? We forget that one’s life does not end here, but is a chain of events that involve others. (2 Kings 20:17 "The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord."). We cannot think the way Hezekiah did. He said: "... there will be peace and security in my days." (2 Kings 20:19). "The time will surely come," the Lord meant it would be 99 years and three months before the bad days arrived. "Everything that is in your house," all you've managed to win by the favor of God, not by your strength, because Assyria could have defeated you, HE WOULD LOSE! What his parents had conquered would be thrown away. Hezekiah did not care about leaving anything planted for those who came after him, as David did, with love. Hezekiah could care less about his descendants, his offspring, and so he dragged down everyone because of what was in him. He was not interested in humbling himself, nor growing spiritually out of love for his own. His offspring would be put to shame; they were eunuchs in the palace of the Babylonians, to those whom he boasted the greatness of having conquered, and the healing that God had given. When the prophet brought Hezekiah the harsh word of the Lord, he answered: "The word of the LORD you have spoken is good." It seems that is being humble, but he did not beg for mercy as he did when he was sick to death (2 Kings 20: 3 "Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly..."). In this occasion, he called out for himself and only himself. As a result of his pride there were long years ahead, and although he did not witness anything; his children, and grandchildren endured great evil. But "out of sight, out of mind." Only cruelty can feel this way. Even after our death, our works must follow us. As we have acted or lived, that is what will follow us. People defend themselves against other’s opinions, but it would be best to look at what is really in our lives. Let us be humble and shed tears of humiliation before a God who is alive. Let us have the same sense of God, and not try so hard to do and see things our own way. Amen.