Now… If you are reading these words, you’re safe and blessed. You have a computer before you, eyes that see, a mind that has learned to read, and the opportunity of choice to use these next few minutes as you like…
Now is all you have. You may not finish this reading. (…if I even get to finish writing down these thoughts !)
What do we do with our ‘now’? And do we realize Who/who is responsible for this ‘now’? Everything I experience and enjoy in my life is attached to another ‘who’ and is absolutely because of ‘Who’. God has a say-so in everything that touches me, and every choice, every action I take or do not take, has an impact.
I must not live my life and make my decisions as if it’s only and all about me and this ‘now’.
Isaiah 39 tells the story of King Hezekiah. God had caused the sun to retreat backwards several degrees. The Assyrians, prominent world power of the day, worshipped the sun god. The Babylonians were enemies of the Assyrians, and they really liked that Hezekiah’s God had power over the sun. They thought it in their interest to befriend Hezekiah and his God.
So they came with gifts. And flattery.
Hezekiah accepted not only the gifts, but the flattery. Not only that, he did a little showing off.
“Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses…the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine oil, his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them” (Isa. 39:2)
Do you think there was a little pride going on there? Ever notice how often that of which we become proud is that which is often taken away?
Oh, Hezekiah didn’t suffer much for it. But the very ones to whom he strutted were the predecessors of the ones who would come and destroy everything he had been so prideful of.
“The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up, will be carried off to Babylon. ..and some of your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
It’s not just about ‘now’. Yes, our choices are important for the immediate, but they have such a profound effect on what days lay ahead.
After Isaiah had informed Hezekiah about the real nature of his Babylonian friends, and what they would be capable of in the future, he replied…
‘….“The word of the Lord..is good.”….For he thought, ‘there will be peace and security in my lifetime.’…”(Isa. 39:8) He was concerned about his 'now'.
I am convicted today that I have enjoyed the peace and security of my lifetime, and horrified that the way we have lived in godless fashion may bring devastation in the days ahead.
God help us to repent of our wicked ways, turn back to You, seek Your Face, and humble ourselves completely. Forgive us for living in our ‘now’ and being blind to the consequences for our sons and daughters. Only You can heal what is so diseased and broken. Help each of us…ME…to be obedient in what You call us to do, help us to live our lives first and foremost for Your purposes…trusting that those purposes are always best for us.
