- But Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem. But Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah. 2 Chronicles 32:25-26 – Our stories can have a double but. If you know me and how I teach, I love whenever I come across a but in the Bible. It means a change in the story and often that change is towards following after God. Yet, not always as we see here with the first but in our passage. Hezekiah let his pride get the best of him and turned for a while away from God…but there was a second but. He changed again his direction to following after God and God welcomed Him back. You too can have a second but in your story. Maybe you once were going strong after God then life happened and your pursuit of Him isn’t as solid as it once was or should be. You though are able and welcomed to turn again back to following after Jesus. God isn’t waiting to smack you down but embrace you back into His loving arms. Know then due to the immense grace and unending love of God you are allowed a double but in your story. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1546
- And he wrote letters to cast contempt on the Lord, the God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, “Like the gods of the nations of the lands who have not delivered their people from my hands, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver his people from my hand.” 2 Chronicles 32:17 – While serving the Lord faithfully, an enemy still came against King Hezekiah. This enemy, the army of Assyria, had come against many cites on their battle march and had conquered all of them. No king, no army, and like we see in the passage, no gods were able to save these cities from the power of Assyria. Now messengers from Assyria are writing to Hezekiah saying nothing, not even God can save them, for no other god had saved any other cites so far. While kings and armies might not be what our normal life looks like, we too can find ourselves proclaiming what these Assyrian messengers said. “Nothing else in this world could help me, so God must not be able to either.” We allow the world’s limitations to limit God in our minds. But our God isn’t like other gods, nor is God like our father who failed us, or that friend that left, or that person that hurt us. God is not those things and God is not like those things. Our God can do far more, and is far better than anything of this world. While the world may have failed you, don’t allow that to dictate what God is able to do in your story. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2621
Daily DEVO 