Thank you God

This is the way it was, plain and simple. There is real, remarkable, genuine difference between the gods of some and the gods of others. When things go terribly wrong in our lives, and they do from time to time, the question becomes, what do we do about it? Reading from Isaiah's pondering this morning, searching for some real, true, deep answers, I came across a pattern. What do we do when the bottom falls out of the car, of the marriage, of our health?

We go to the Living God, or at least I believe we must.

The prophet of the Lord said this one time: "It is true, Lord, that the kings of (you name it, but this time it just happened to be Assyria) have destroyed all these nations." Say we went looking for answers, and we prayed and we consulted, and we cried, and we sought.

"And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all -- only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands."

Where is the answer? From where must it come?

The man was as broad as the axe he carried was sharp. It wasn't a weapon as much as it was security.

His shoulders were thick, as thick as his Jewish accent, and his arms were long, hanging straight past his waistline. His arms were muscular from carrying the sword that had saved his life so often. He was ready for whatever the Lord would allow to come his way. He had always been.

His hands were calloused, and even his the nails were broken and uneven. He stood still in a circle of active men, and his brilliantly bright cobalt  eyes locked onto those around him, men and a few women, individual by individual, one by one, checking the faces for perceived threats, dismissing when he decided there .

He sensed fear in the eyes of some, read danger in the faces of others. Every man in this small room was capable of something deadly. He felt they were less capable than him, but underestimating them at this point could get a man killed, made them no less of a threat. Fear motivated in shockingly under-appreciated ways.

These men were younger than he, filled with anger and distrust. That anger could get him killed.

The sun was setting when he received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was leading an army to fight against him, King Hezekiah. So, he did what he always did when he heard a report about an army coming his way. He tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the temple of the Lord.

War was coming.
Armies were arriving.
 What could he do?

It seems to me, friends, that difficulties that arrive in our lives like foreign armies, must be handled in the same way we would handle an attacking army. When difficulties come in our marriages, in our jobs, in our checkbooks, in a bad diagnosis (you name it, it's gonna come) or two or three, read what the holy scriptures tell us.

"After King Hezekiah's officials delivered the king's message to Isaiah (yeah, that one), the prophet (Isaiah) replied, "Say to your master, 'This is what the Lord says. Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king's messengers. Listen! I myself will move against him,' and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.' "

When difficulties come, go to the Lord.
When pain comes, go to the Lord.
When tears fall, and shock ensues, and we flat out don't know what next to do. Go to the Lord.

After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord's Temple and spread it out before the Lord.  He prayed, "O Lord of Heaven's Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see!"

Go to the prophet. Go to the Temple. Go to the Lord. Seek the joy. Search for the light. Let the pure love that is God's flow down the mountain and cover us like nothing ever could or would or ever will.

His love endures forever. His grace covers us all. We are saved. We are purified. Oh,

Singer/Songwriter/Worship leader Chris Tomlin wrote this:

I called your name. You heard my cry.
Out of the gray, and into light.
My heart is yours. My soul is free.
Thank you God for saving me. Thank you God for saving me.