Saturday, August 3, 2014 [by Keesha Sullivan]
Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father... (James 1:17 NLT)
Every single blessing/ good thing we experience on earth is a gift from our Heavenly Father. Unfortunately, the harder we work at something the less credit we give to God. We sometimes feel as though we "pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps." Sometimes it is not even the hard work that makes us forget that the gift/s came from God. It also can be the success that God gives us. He does all the work and somehow we take all the glory and forget to thank Him.
In the reading for today, Hezekiah suffered from the latter. It says in 2 Chronicles 32: 20-23, "King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to Heaven about this.
"And the Lord sent an Angel who annihilated all the fighting men and the leaders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian King. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he went into the temple of his god, some of his sons cut him down with the sword. So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib King of Assyria and from the hand of all others. He took care of them on every side. Many brought offerings to Jerusalem for The Lord and valuable gifts for Hezekiah King of Judah. From then on he was highly regarded by all the nations." (2 Chronicles 32: 20-23 NIV) Hezekiah received peace on every side and was esteemed by the people due to God's gift of protection.
Just a few verses later we read about Hezekiah being healed from the point of death by the Lord. God's awesome favor was resting upon Hezekiah. Hezekiah seemed to forget that the protection, the esteem, and the healing were all from God. "But Hezekiah's heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him..." (2 Chronicles 32:25 NIV) After a certain point of receiving all these great gifts from God, he stopped thanking God.
When it says that Hezekiah didn't respond, it means that he didn't show gratitude. He didn't remember Who was the Source of all these blessings that kept taking place in his life. Pastor Taylor's sermon on gratitude was a timely message. Gratitude is the only thing that keeps us from falling into the trap of pride. It keeps us relying on God and His power and not our own.
When we do fall into the trap of pride, it is amazing to know that God can pick us up and help us get back into a right relationship when we repent and realize where all of our gifts came from. "Then Hezekiah repented of the pride of His heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the Lord's wrath did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah." (2 Chronicles 32: 26 NIV)
Thank You Lord for showering us with so many gifts. Thank You for waking us up another day! Thank You for giving us clothes on our back and food to eat. Thank You for Your mighty love that You lavish on us. Thank You that You are Our God and that You have protected this country from so much harm and danger. We love and adore You Lord. We ask that You would touch us and help us to be more grateful. We want to completely rely on You Lord. We ask all of these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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