2 Chronicles 29.10 10 Now it is in my heart to make a
covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may
turn away from us. (ESV)
Who makes a deal with God? Isn’t it the other way round –
doesn’t God make deals with us? It seems only the desperate risk taker would
come to the Lord and say: let’s make a deal!
Hezekiah was a risk taker. At the age of twenty-five he
ascended the throne of David and began to try to lead his countrymen into
repentance before the Lord. He knew how bad they’d been and how far they’d
drifted from God and he made it his agenda to bring them back – that is what
leaders do.
Hezekiah knew that repentance started with the Lord so
that is the First Place he went: to God’s presence and he told his people: Now it is in my heart to make a covenant
with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away
from us. And when one makes a deal with God one offers a plan to God and
then one keeps that plan with all of his heart. And it says in 2 Chronicles
31.21: And every work that he undertook
in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the
commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered.
Was Hezekiah perfect? No. He had his share of troubles. Did
Hezekiah screw up? Yes, later in life he fell victim to his own ego. But he is
remembered as a good king and one who: did
what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father
had done.
The problem with making a deal with God is keeping the
deal. The deal-breaker is often our own apathy or the fact that we sometimes
second guess ourselves into believing the original deal wasn’t really a deal
after all. Making the deal is one thing. Keeping it is another. The deal that
starts in the heart of one connected to God is one that has a higher degree of
success. Trying to impress others on the other hand stands to ultimately fail:
they might be impressed but God might see it as an idol in our own minds.
And the problem with deals is sometimes we’re sold out to
something that no one else is; and buy-in is important. It isn’t the
deal-maker, but when it comes to spiritual matters and kingdom things, buy-in
is important: Hezekiah couldn’t have done what he did without the support of
the Levites who seemed to understand the gravity of his deal with God (See 2
Chronicles 29.34).
Deal-making is partly belief and partly desperation: God
if You don’t come through, we’re (I’m) toast! King Hezekiah was desperate:
Assyria was standing at his door. And the king knew, without God, there would be
no more Jewish nation.
The other side of deal-making is not doing anything at
all. Jesus told a parable in Matthew 25.14-30 about a master (a king) making
deals with three of his servants and giving them the seed resources to get the
deals done. The first two kept the bargain but the third took the seed money
and buried it in the ground. When it came time to settle accounts the third
said, "I just couldn’t believe you were serious, or that I could do anything." No
risk, no desperation; not even a sense of duty or of obligation.
The question I have about my own life is: am I desperate
enough to seek God for a deal or do I believe that the seed faith He has given
me is enough to get something done for His good and glory?
Lord, help me to keep the deal that is already made and make good use of
what You’ve already given me – I pray in Your Name! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment