Obeys God’s Word No Matter What

Obeys God’s Word No Matter What

A HERO’S TALE

King Hezekiah was at a dangerous crossroads. The fate of the entire southern kingdom rested on him.

Hezekiah became Judah’s ruler in 715 BC. His father, Ahaz, was one of Judah’s most wicked kings. Ahaz put up pagan altars all over Judah, sacrificed to false Canaanite gods, and locked the doors of God’s temple, hoping to extinguish the worship of the Lord.

Making matters worse, the northern kingdom, Israel, had fallen to the mighty Assyrian Empire seven years earlier, and the Assyrians had their eye on conquering Judah, too.

So Hezekiah had a choice to make. He could follow the evil ways of Israel’s and Judah’s previous kings. It would have been easy to do —after all, everyone else had abandoned God. Or he could go against the flow and obey God’s Word, no matter what.

Heroically, he chose the latter.

Hezekiah looked into the Old Testament law (the first five books of the Bible) and shuddered at how far Judah had fallen from following God. So he promptly

• cleansed the temple of all objects of pagan worship;
• destroyed all idols throughout Judah;
• reestablished temple worship and the sacrificial systems;
• restored the practice of tithing firstfruits to God;
• reinstituted the observance of sacred festivals, including a huge, two-week Passover celebration; and
• prayerfully trusted in God for deliverance from Assyrian King Sennacherib’s massive attacking army.

Judah eventually fell to the Babylonians. But not during Hezekiah’s lifetime. Other than David, Hezekiah was Judah’s greatest king. He faithfully obeyed God’s Word, and the Lord rewarded him greatly.

DECODING THE MESSAGE

It’s not always easy to obey God’s Word, is it? You’re probably not tempted to worship ancient Canaanite gods like Hezekiah’s fellow kings were, but there are plenty of moments when following God’s commands is tough.

Maybe it’s when your friends want to do something wrong. Or when your parents ask you to do something you don’t want to do. Or when that annoying kid at school gets on your nerves. You just want to do what you want.

But obeying the Bible is always the right way to go. After all, God himself inspired all Scripture (see 2 Timothy 3:16), so you can always trust what it says.

Choose to obey God’s Word, no matter what. As Hezekiah can tell you, it’s the heroic thing to do.

BATTLE PLAN

Read all of Psalm 119. It’s about loving and obeying God’s Word.