Care More than Hezekiah

Scripture: "'Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and all that your predecessors have stored up until today will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,' says the Lord. ‘Some of your descendants—who come from you, whom you father—will be taken away, and they will become 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, "Why not, if there will be peace and security during my lifetime?" 2 Kings 20:17-19

Observation: Isaiah tells Hezekiah the prophesy about the fall of Judah ... Babylon will come and destroy all of Judah and Jerusalem, they will take all the riches, burn everything down, and they will deport everyone, and even Hezekiah's own royal descendants will be castrated and made slaves to the king of Babylon.

And Hezekiah declares this as "good" because ... hey, at least it won't happen to him.

Application: Every day, I am forced to watch as the region I once loved - and I truly loved Seattle and this region ("Once a place touches you like this, the wind never blows so cold again") - is utterly and completely morally destroyed. Almost every position of authority - from city and county officials, to school district superintendents, to major business executives - is held by a person who is openly and actively driving agendas designed to destroy what is right and good and moral. Every day I see or hear about something that makes the situation just a little bit worse. And it's all celebrated! I don't know if I should cry, yell, or just ... leave.

But I also know that many Christians ... don't care. While this has been happening over the last 50 years, all they really cared about was whether or not their own church would survive. As our society swung in favor of issues and policies they should abhor, they shook their heads while just turning inward, keeping their programs alive, and hoping their stone building and the aging community of friends inside it would hold together for their lifetime. Younger Christians today have just left, moved to places where they aren't criticized or even ostracized for their faith.

They'd call the future of Seattle "good" because ... hey, it isn't happening to them.

I want to storm into local churches and just yell at them 'get up off you a**** and get in the fight!!' And that isn't fair because some are. But some aren't. Of course, many just don't exist anymore. And then there are those who have decided to set aside scriptural truth and instead agree with the new social norms and morals, and they are for the Lord to address not me.

I know how flawed I am. I know I don't do enough. But I also know I've been ostracized, criticized, disciplined, and fired due to my faith. Small prices to pay compared to some (I mean, I'm not getting enslaved and castrated). We all need to care a lot more about how the social decline of today will destroy people 25 years from now. We need to care a LOT more than Hezekiah.

Prayer: Lord, I know as an absolute fact that you could flip everything going on in this part of the world on its head, in a heartbeat, and bring revival and deliverance for millions here. I also know you could just let everyone self-determine their destruction. All I really see right now is, we are losing this fight. If that is your will, then thy will be done. Amen.