Daily Devotions
Peace in My Days
Title: Peace in My Days
Reading for August 5: Isaiah 36-39
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”
Isaiah 39:5-8
It’s hard to read these words from Hezekiah, especially knowing what a good and godly king he was. You would expect these words to come from one of the evil kings who preceded him. But no, one of the most foolish and selfish statements recorded from any of the kings, comes from arguably one of the greatest kings in Judah’s history.
But think about similar situations you’ve found yourself in and ask yourself if you’re any different than Hezekiah...
As a parent you can see the trajectory your teen has taken after a series of bad decisions. You know you should probably be the bad guy, but that would mean you’re going to have to suffer a lot of grief from your child. So you choose to do nothing. You choose to say nothing.
“At least there is peace in my days.”
As a preacher you start to hear and see disturbing signs in the congregation where you are preaching. You can see a general trend toward liberalism. You observe a general indifference toward the Lord’s service. You start to hear in Bible class statements that betray a complete misunderstanding of God’s Word. But if you were to confront any of these issues privately or publicly it would likely create headaches for you. You might even be asked at some point to leave.
“At least there is peace in my days.”
And the list goes on and on: elders who look the other way when blatant immorality is being committed; families who prefer to sweep sin under the rug when it threatens to make holiday gatherings uncomfortable; Christians who choose to not talk about difficult issues that threaten to divide churches in the future; etc.
At some point we have to decide that God’s glory must always be chosen over our peace; that truth must always trump comfort; and that an eternal reward is worth whatever injuries we suffer in the process of striving for it.
Father, grant us the courage, the love, and the foresight to choose to do the right thing instead of the easy thing.
