Left Alone But Not Left!
10/1/06
Mat. 28:19 Therefore go and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the
very end of the age.”
This
is not the first time this promise was made by God.......
Deut.
31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or
terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he
will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Jos.
1:5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I
was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake
you.
Jesus promised that He would
never leave you nor forsake you. He
will go with you to the end of the age--that’s a promise!
But that doesn’t mean that
there are not times when we are “left alone but not left.”
2 Chr. 32:30 It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon
spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He
succeeded in everything he undertook. 31But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask
him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him
to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.
(NASB)
“God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in
his heart.”
(NLT)
“God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him and to see what was really in
his heart.”
Let’s read the whole story.
2
Ki. 20:1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at
the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This
is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die;
you will not recover.”
2Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and
prayed to the LORD, 3“Remember, O LORD, how I have walked
before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good
in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4Before Isaiah had left the middle court,
the word of the LORD came to him: 5“Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of
my people, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have
heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from
now you will go up to the temple of the LORD. 6I will add fifteen
years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the
king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my
servant David.’”
7Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of
figs.” They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered.
8Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be
the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the temple of the
LORD on the third day from now?”
9Isaiah answered, “This is the LORD’S sign
to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward
ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?”
10“It is a simple matter for the shadow to
go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.”
11Then the prophet Isaiah called upon the
LORD, and the LORD made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on
the stairway of Ahaz.
12At that time Merodach-Baladan son of
Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard
of Hezekiah’s illness. 13Hezekiah received the messengers and
showed them all that was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices
and the fine oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was
nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
14Then Isaiah the prophet went to King
Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”
“From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came from Babylon.”
15The prophet asked, “What did they see in
your palace?”
“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is
nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”
16Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the
word of the LORD: 17The time will surely come when everything
in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will
be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. 18And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, that will
be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace
of the king of Babylon.”
19“The word of the LORD you have spoken is
good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security
in my lifetime?”
2 Ki. 20:12 At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of
Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s
illness.
What did the king of Babylon
really want to know?
Let’s go back to 2 Chr. and
read this again.......
2
Chr. 32:24 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was
at the point of death. He prayed to the LORD, who answered him and gave him a
miraculous sign. 25But Hezekiah’s
heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the
LORD’S wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. 26Then Hezekiah
repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore
the LORD’S wrath did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.
27Hezekiah had very great riches and honor,
and he made treasuries for his silver and gold and for his precious stones,
spices, shields and all kinds of valuables. 28He also made
buildings to store the harvest of grain, new wine and oil; and he made stalls for
various kinds of cattle, and pens for the flocks. 29He built
villages and acquired great numbers of flocks and herds, for God had given him
very great riches.
30It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper
outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the
City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook. 31But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him
about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and
to know everything that was in his heart.
There is a great big
difference between God leaving us or forsaking us and being left alone!
God didn’t forsake Hezekiah,
but He left him alone to test him, to see what was in his heart.
I hear your question. Does not God know everything? He already knows what’s in our heart. That’s true. But we don’t!
He does test us so that we can see what’s in our heart.
Here’s a fact. Every Christian is tested! Every day we are tested to one degree or
another.
Ja. 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials
of many kinds, 3because you know
that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature
and complete, not lacking anything.
Heb. 11:17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him,
offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to
sacrifice his one and only son, 18even
though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be
reckoned.” 19Abraham reasoned that
God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back
from death.
Now
God’s not going to ask you to offer up your child as a sacrifice in the same
way He asked Abraham, but you might be tested in sacrificing something else.
Ex. 16:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from
heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that
day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will
follow my instructions.
Jud. 2:21 I will no longer drive out
before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22I will use them to test Israel and see
whether they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their forefathers
did.” 23The LORD had allowed those
nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the
hands of Joshua.
David understood that God
tests the heart....
1 Chr. 29:17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and
are pleased with integrity.
Jesus will never leave you
nor forsake you, but you will be tested so you heart can be revealed.
Ÿ
How do you respond to
delayed answers to prayer?
Ÿ
How do you act when you
don’t sense the presence of God?
Ÿ
What’s you attitude when
things don’t go exactly the way you thought they should have?
The Bible says that “the
righteous shall live by faith.”
We don’t live by what we
feel, or what we see, or our logic, or the world’s philosophy--we live by the
faithfulness of the Living God!
Hear the heart of David as
his faith was tested.......
Ps. 6:1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
3 My soul is in anguish.
How long, O LORD, how long?
4 Turn, O LORD, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.
5 No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave?
6 I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.
8 Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the LORD has heard my weeping.
9 The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
the LORD accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed;
they
will turn back in sudden disgrace.
Ps. 13:1 How long, O
LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will
you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
4 my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,
for
he has been good to me.
Be greatly encouraged! Jesus hasn’t left you! You might be going through a dry spell, a
desert land. It might seem like Jesus
is miles away--He’s not!
Ps. 42:1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for
God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my
food
day and night,
while men say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I
remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go with the
multitude,
leading the procession to the
house of God,
with shouts of joy and
thanksgiving
among the festive throng.
5 Why are you downcast,
O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and 6my God.
My soul is downcast
within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount
Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
8 By day the LORD
directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer
mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why are you downcast,
O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.