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What a Relief

Isaiah 39:5-6 & 8
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “… Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house … shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD.” … 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.”

Hezekiah’s story just keeps getting worse, doesn’t it? Instead of repenting, he breathes a sigh of relief upon learning that his compromise will affect his children and not him. How grossly apathetic! But friend, aren’t we just as selfish at times? Don’t we see tornados and pandemics and crime waves hit someone else’s town and thank God it wasn’t ours? Don’t we pray earnestly for peace and security for ourselves, while remaining indifferent to the suffering of others? When I read of David’s murder of Uriah and Samson’s liaison with Delilah and Gideon’s idolatrous ephod and Paul’s refusal to forgive John Mark, it strikes me that the only reason selfishness isn’t the defining mark of all of us is because of the sanctifying work of God’s Spirit.

So remember, Christian: the same Savior who commissioned you to love God and love your neighbors is the same Sanctifier who empowers you to accomplish it. And that’s a relief!