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Hear, O Israel. Yahweh is our God—Yahweh alone. Love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’”
“It’s too easy to believe in our own importance when we’re surrounded by our own creations all day.”
“You pray. And you allow the Lord to be your strength. Remember—the Lord doesn’t give you strength, Hezekiah. He is your strength.”
Isaiah lowered his head in shame as if seeing himself once again in the light of God’s holiness.
The rift between the religious and secular factions was obviously very deep. But as Hezekiah listened to both sides of the argument, he wasn’t sure which side he agreed with. Shebna had taught him to make practical, informed decisions based on reason; Zechariah urged him to trust in God’s power alone. These two sides of Hezekiah seemed as irreconcilable as the two fighting parties.
‘Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.’”
“Then you favor rebellion?” Hezekiah asked. “I favor obedience to the Word of God, which says, ‘Do not place a foreigner over you.’”
Times have changed since this law was written.” “No. Yahweh’s Word will still be valid one thousand years from now. You don’t need to trust in the fickleness of other nations. Put your trust in God.”
Either your faith in God is absolute, or it’s worthless. There’s no way to compromise.”
“It wasn’t until after my beloved wife died that I realized she was my most cherished treasure. Hold your wife close to you, son. Confide in her. Listen to her. Sometimes women see things more clearly than we do. If you win her loyalty and her love, you’ll be the happiest man alive. God gives us wives for more than offspring and physical pleasure. Ancient tradition says that Yahweh dwells amid married couples.”
“God has set before them life and death,” Zechariah said. “We can only pray that they choose life.”
“When it comes to obeying the Law, you can’t pick and choose. If you decide to obey His Word, you must obey all of it.”
Hezekiah found it easy to believe in a living God, to believe that he played a part in His eternal plan, when immersed in an atmosphere of praise and worship.
“Yes. A sign that we love Him is that we keep His commandments. That’s the starting place for all of us. As the psalmist has written, the Lord’s love is with those who keep His covenant.”
Love for God is never instant. It has to grow and mature just like any other kind of love. The struggle is always with our will.”
As you learn to keep that Law, you’ll learn to know Him better.”
As long as you continue to seek Him, son, your love will continue to grow. And as you express your love for Him through obedience, He’ll reveal more of himself to you.”
Unless you make up your mind to trust Him, you’ll never know that Yahweh is faithful.”
“Sometimes you may feel like you’re all alone, especially after I’m gone. . . .” “What do you mean, after you’re gone?” “But Yahweh will be with you. He will never leave you.”
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,’” Hezekiah recited, “‘the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him?’
beg you not to be so hard on your son. Let him question his faith. Let him voice his doubts. You’ve taught him well, both with your words and by your example. His questions will make his faith stronger in the end.
God’s Law often disagreed with human reasoning.
“Either your faith in God is absolute, or it’s worthless.”
“But I don’t believe in prayer, either. God never answered any of my prayers.” “My sweet child. I think He has answered them, but you refuse to recognize it.”
You’re hanging on to all your hatred instead of letting it go, and that hatred is keeping you captive. But even worse, you’re robbing God of the glory that is due Him.”
So if there is an order and a purpose in all that He has made, then surely we can trust Him to order our lives, too—without needing to know why.”
But now you face another choice, Jerusha. How will you live the rest of your life? You can let the past make you bitter and unforgiving and unloving. Or you can turn the pain into something beautiful by choosing to do so.”
his love for her was so great that he had to look away
“So you went ahead with your building projects and your plans, and now you’re asking Yahweh to bless them? Now, when you’re in trouble? You’re not asking for God’s will, King Hezekiah. You’re asking Him to choose one of the plans you’ve already initiated.”
The Lord says, ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
But when we only believe in things we can see with our eyes and touch with our hands, it is idolatry. Faith in God meant believing the unseen.
