September 20, 2023 • 34 mins
Do you ever find yourself grappling with your faith, especially when the world around you seems to be spiraling out of control? What if there was a blueprint, a compelling story of unwavering trust in God despite the odds that could guide you? This episode takes us through the life of King Hezekiah, a king who dared to trust God amidst adversity, even when it meant defying the great King of Assyria. Hezekiah symbolically tore down pagan shrines and smashed sacred pillars, signifying his allegiance to God alone.
This narrative doesn't just end at Hezekiah's faithfulness, it also highlights the stark contrast with his father's unfaithfulness. A thought-provoking discourse around the struggle of breaking down idols and the resulting resistance it often instigates forms an integral part of our discussion. We delve into the perils of syncretism, which is the merging of our faith with cultural practices, and its potential harm. As we traverse through the Bible, we bring to light stories of trust in God, drawing parallels with the story of Cain. This episode is filled with spiritual insight and will challenge you to reexamine your faith and trust in God.
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Episode Transcript
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Dan Schilling (00:07):
Hey, welcome to the Feed Sheep Podcast, where we
help you hear God's voice,follow His lead and thrive as a
disciple.
I'm Dan Schilling and I'll beone of your guides.
Now let's get into today'stopic.
Hey, welcome to the FeedSheepPodcast.
Thanks for tuning in.
Today we are going to continueon a topic we have been
addressing over the last coupleof episodes and it's about the
(00:28):
issue of trust, and I know thisis something that we're going to
continue to wrestle through allof our lives.
But, Michael, I'm glad to beback and talking with you about
this topic.
You and I have been wrestlingwith this.
I know you've been talkingabout it.
You actually were helping methis past week get out of a
ditch, because I'm falling apartsometimes on all this area of
(00:52):
trust and trusting God toprovide and trusting God to help
me get this technology issuessometimes.
So I'm grateful for you and ourfriendship.
Michael Blue (00:59):
Yeah, thanks, dan.
It's good to be here and gladto get to talk about this,
because it's one of those topics.
I think that for me and we'vetalked about this too in our
lives of you know it helps,having seen God be faithful in
the past, trust Him for thefuture.
But that doesn't mean it'seffortless.
So we continue to grow andsometimes, you know, the growth
(01:21):
is that he gives us biggerthings to trust Him for, but
oftentimes it's our own humandoubts and questions and all
that that we have to deal with.
So I think it's always arelevant topic and I'm excited
to dive in.
Dan Schilling (01:34):
Yeah, well, you can't be not to dark.
You hear about that because,you're right, it is an issue
that we struggle with and I'dsay we talked about this last
time a little bit that my issue,most of my trust, is about.
I'm trying to figure out whatI'm going to deal with in the
(01:56):
future.
What about this, what aboutthat?
And when I think about thestory where I'm talking about
today with Hezekiah and how Godone of the things he says about
Hezekiah and we're going to lookat that in just a minute it's
he was believing God for whatGod was going to do and what was
coming, and we're going to seehow this issue of trust is
really a lot of deals with that.
(02:16):
So good, well, why don't youpray for us?
Get us started?
Michael Blue (02:22):
Okay, moving father, thanks so much for these
times that we get to look atfaithful servants of you who
trusted you, and I just praythat we would grow in faith, we
would grow in trust, and thatyou would just continue to
encourage us and draw us near toyou as we have the opportunity
to trust you.
So I pray for all the listeners, I pray for Dan and I that you
(02:44):
would just fill us with moretrust today.
And Jesus name Amen.
Dan Schilling (02:48):
Amen.
Well, michael, I've spent sometime looking today, actually
just was intrigued by this storythat we're going to look at is
about King Hezekiah.
For folks, if you'd like tospend some time looking at
Hezekiah great stories aroundhim you're going to see the
(03:11):
primary topic around him inIsaiah, chapter 36 through 39.
You're going to also see thisin 2 Kings 18 to 20.
We're going to look at 2 Kings18 for our discussion here today
, and then we're also you'll see2nd Chronicles, 29 to 32.
(03:32):
And so, if you'd like to lookat those because we're going to
look at Hezekiah the nextepisode or two here and talk
about how he was a king whotrusted God, but he was facing a
lot of issues through hiskingship One of the things that
I saw today as I was studyingMichael is in 2 Chronicles 28.
(03:58):
We're not going to look at thisverse necessarily, but his dad
was Ahaz, king Ahaz, and whatwas interesting to me is that
this is in 2 Chronicles 28, 19to 24.
And it says that Ahaz wasutterly unfaithful.
He closed the temple, he set upthe shrines and the shirapoles,
(04:21):
and I mean there's nothing tobe more, I guess, than history.
You'd say, to have somethingwritten about you that you were
utterly unfaithful.
Like you, were the epitome ofno unfaithfulness.
Michael Blue (04:35):
So not something you want to go to and remember
for.
Dan Schilling (04:43):
So a lot of times you say, well, what's the point
of that in the story?
Well, a lot of times we canlook back at our own story, our
own journey, our own history,and we can say, well, you know,
my dad or my parents have thisissue and this issue, and that
caused me to not be trusting orcaused me not to be a certain
way.
(05:03):
And so I just was thinkingabout gosh, regardless of what
our past is and our present, westill always have this future in
front of us.
And Hezekiah was in a placewhen he took over and he
immediately said hey, wait aminute, what are we doing here?
(05:23):
And so we're going to look atthat, and so let's just go ahead
and jump into that for just asecond and we'll kind of bounce
back over some of these otherpassages if we have time, but
let's start this.
Second Kings.
I'm going to go back up toverse one and we're just going
to get a little bit of thehistory here of Hezekiah.
(05:44):
Again, this is second Kings 18,starting in verse one, and this
is the new living translation.
So you want to read one throughfour there, sure.
Michael Blue (05:55):
Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, began to rule over Judah
in the third year of KingHoshaiah's reign in Israel.
He was 25 years old when hebecame king and he reigned in
Jerusalem 29 years.
His mother was Abijah, thedaughter of Zechariah.
He did what was pleasing in theLord's sight, just as his
ancestor David had done.
He removed the pagan shrines,smashed the sacred pillars and
(06:18):
cut down the ashore bowls.
He broke up the bronze serpentthat Moses had made because the
people of Israel had beenoffering sacrifices to it.
The bronze serpent was calledNehish-Dun.
Dan Schilling (06:30):
Yeah, I don't hold your pronunciation on that,
I don't know.
You did a good job.
So there's a lot here in thisfirst text, right, this first
paragraph.
And so let's just talk throughthis a little bit.
So you say he's 25, a young guy, he takes over, he's going to
(06:51):
reign for 29 years, gives alittle bit of his heritage.
It tells us in verse that he didwhat was pleasing, like his
ancestor, david.
And this is where what startsto get interesting is that this
was, as I was looking at it,it's about five or six hundred
years after David was king.
So it wasn't like it was reallyclose, like he didn't know a
(07:11):
great grandpa David.
It's like this is generations.
There has been a generationaldisobedience going on throughout
the kings.
There's a split, obviously, ofthe kingdoms.
You know Judah and Jerusalem.
So that's why he's king ofJudah.
His father again had a share ofpoles, pagan shrines, all this
(07:37):
stuff.
So he comes in early in hisreign and says, kind of enough
of the nonsense here.
And then we also see that, thatbronze serpent, which was really
a symbol.
We even still have that symboltoday in our medical community,
right, I mean that bronzeserpent.
But that bronze serpent hasbeen passed on and the people
(08:02):
are worshiping it and you and Italked about like the golden
calf I was.
A friend of mine was telling me.
He said he's listening to oneof our episodes a while back
about the golden calf ofretirement and how sometimes we
just start worshiping somethinglike what are we doing here?
And it wasn't even a bad thing.
This is, you know.
It was a good thing, this iswhat redeemed them right.
Look upon this steak and you'llbe and so, and it actually had a
(08:30):
name and so, yeah, give me someof your thoughts and insight.
Michael Blue (08:35):
Yeah, you know, I've you, and I did a kind of a
co-teaching one time, a coupleyears back, if you remember.
Dan Schilling (08:42):
Yeah.
Michael Blue (08:42):
And I kind of came in with the hammer and I talked
about the kings of Judah.
Dan Schilling (08:49):
Yes.
Michael Blue (08:50):
And you know it's interesting, as I think back on
that, that you know Israelbasically had no good kings, so
this King Hosea was likely anevil king.
Ahaz was an evil king who camebefore in Judah, but Hezekiah is
one of four that were, you know, viewed as good kings.
There's about four others thatwere viewed as kind of had some
good, either a good start and abad finish, or bad start and
(09:13):
good finish, or something likethat.
But we're kind of more lukewarmand the rest of them were bad.
Yes, and so you look at atsomeone like Hezekiah, who's
coming into the midst of, youknow, just generations of really
bad kings and bad leadershipand all that, and you know,
somehow his mom, right, which Igot to think that she was a big
(09:36):
part of his faithfulness becauseshe would Zachariah's daughter,
right, so clearly his dadwasn't the guy who was
influencing him, and so itdoesn't spell it out, but we can
kind of make some assumptionsby who she is and what she.
The fact that she was his momand that she's mentioned here is
, I think, significant.
(09:57):
Yeah, it's good and that aswell.
So there was somebody in hislife, namely his mom, who was
dealing with a husband whocouldn't have been more opposite
of what her father was.
Yes, and here she is raising ason who then ends up being a
godly son and a godly leader,despite kind of all of the back
you know, the baggage that hecame with.
(10:19):
Yes, so that's kind of a couplethings that jump out at me as we
look at this.
Yeah so good?
Yeah, I was just going to say.
The other thing is, is theviolence with which he destroyed
the things that were anathemato God right?
He removed the pagan tribes andsmashed the pillars and then
cut down the ashropoles.
This wasn't like, well, let'scover them up.
You know it's repurposed somemaybe we'll make that ashropole
(10:43):
into you know it's that gamewhere you hit the pole around
the pole.
Dan Schilling (10:47):
Yeah, tether ball .
Michael Blue (10:49):
Tether ball right.
The first tether ball happenedwas with a rock in the string.
No, it's pretty dangerous, butno, they ripped him down.
Dan Schilling (10:58):
Yeah, yes, well, I was going to say is you have a
great point of you know, eventhe faithfulness of moms
sometimes too.
You know probably a lot ofthese kings throughout.
You know, having multiplechildren with multiple wives.
You know where the mom reallyprobably was a very influential
(11:22):
figure in their lives for manyof them.
And so you have a faithful momwho probably was discipling and
training this young man.
So there is a lot of good thatyou see.
Thank you for mom and all yougood moms out there who were
looking out for us and we wereyounger.
(11:43):
And I think we have a thing yousaid about Hezekiah too.
We're going to talk about this.
We won't get to it today, butyou know, hezekiah in some ways
doesn't finish well either,right, I mean, he, he, he
prospers.
You know, we're going to seewhat, how God views him here in
just a second.
But then he prospers and andthrough all that prospering,
he's like, yeah, this is great.
(12:03):
And then, you know, invites theBabylonians, you know, and to
come see all of this stuff, andIsaiah is like, hey, what are
you doing, man?
And you know, and then it'skind of his at the end, as I was
studying this again today he'slike, well, you know, at least
I'll have peace in my lifetime.
You know, like, come on, really, dude, you know.
And then you see his son,manasseh, you know, is a
(12:25):
trainwreck who essentiallyreinstitutes all of the polls,
all of this.
You know pagan shrines, all theashira poll, you know all the
stuff.
So like, oh, my goodness, whatare we doing?
Michael Blue (12:36):
So yeah, and he was.
He was the one who who offeredhis son right.
Dan Schilling (12:42):
Yes, yeah, yeah, man, it's like what are you
doing, you know?
So, yeah, okay, I said it did.
He was like he was one of theway the sorcery, the divination,
the stuff that he brought inwas unparalleled, and it says
how it angered the Lord.
And so you just reminded againof our you know, there, I heard
(13:04):
a guy say this years ago thereis no spiritual grandchildren.
You know, like, where each oneof us are called to disciple the
next generation, those whofollow us, and so you know,
that's probably another bigfailure on Hezekiah's part.
And yeah, I don't.
I don't know how many kidsthese guys had.
You know, I have seven.
It's hard enough just to keeptrack of them.
(13:25):
I mean, some of these guysprobably had who knows how many,
because he says they're goingto take away his sons.
That's what Isaiah prophesiedSome of your sons are going to
go and they're going to be Unix,and so Right, yeah, not always
a good scenario.
Michael Blue (13:38):
It is a good.
Yeah, I mean we could go downprobably a little bit of a
rabbit trail on on parenting,but yeah, that's a, that's a
huge encouragement to rememberthat that it does.
You know, god does redeemgenerations.
But it's also not this promiseof.
I mean we have to be vigilantin in training up our, our kids.
Dan Schilling (14:02):
Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Well, let's, let's go on, sincewe're talking about trust and
we're going to see here, really,I think, where this lines up
with the theme of what we wantto accomplish each time when
we're here for the podcast ishelp people to hear God's voice,
follow his lead and thrive asdisciples, and I believe what
we're going to see here is a keyaspect as disciples to thrive.
(14:27):
So let's look here, starting inagain second Kings 18, and pick
up there in verse five and readdown through eight through
eight.
All right.
Michael Blue (14:36):
So Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of
Israel.
There was no one like him amongall the Kings of Judah, either
before or after his time.
He remained faithful to theLord and everything, and he
carefully obeyed all thecommands the Lord had given
Moses.
So the Lord was with him andHezekiah was successful in
everything he did.
He revolted against the King ofAssyria and refused to pay him
(14:56):
tribute.
He also conquered thePhilistines as far distant as
Gaza and his territory, fromtheir smallest outposts to their
largest walled city.
Dan Schilling (15:06):
Okay, so there's several things here.
Again, I think the key to me isthat Hezekiah trusted the Lord,
the God of Israel.
I don't know why it says itdoesn't say the God of Israel
and Judah, but the God of Israel.
Here, yeah.
Michael Blue (15:22):
There was what's that.
Yeah, no, why is that?
Well, I would imagine.
I mean Israel is the wholenation.
Still, yes right, even thoughthe split you'd have Israel and
Judah, but I think that you'dhave probably better said the
northern tribes of Israel andJudah.
Dan Schilling (15:41):
Yes, yes, so God season is one still right.
That's a good point.
And there's to me this was keyagain that there's no one like
him among the kings of Judah,either before him or after him.
So he was designated by histrust and that he remained
faithful to the Lord andeverything, carefully obeying
(16:01):
everything.
And because of that, because ofthat trust, because of that
faithfulness and because of thatcareful obedience, then to me
the result was so the Lord waswith him and he was successful
in all that.
He did everything.
And I think, as we've talkedthrough Michael on this again,
(16:22):
the goal for us is to hear God'svoice, to follow or to obey and
to thrive.
And so I see that here therewas no one like him before.
He remained faithful, meaninghe would hear God's voice.
And this to me, when I thinkabout a faithful child, you know
, if I was giving one of my sonsa designation of faithfulness,
(16:44):
it's like I've asked them to dosomething and they followed
through with it.
Right, they were faithful.
Take out the trash.
When I come in, the trash isgone.
It's not like just sittingoutside of the can.
It's not sitting out in agarage all over the place.
It's not, you know, it actuallygot completed all the way
through.
Every step they were faithful,they did what was asked of them
(17:05):
to do, and so, as a guy hears,he follows, he carefully obeys,
and because of that, the resultof that is that God's with him,
that that fellowship, thatintimacy that is available still
to you and I, and that thatgoal that God's always had from
the beginning is always being infellowship and unity and
(17:26):
communication and building thatrelationship with us back to
Adam and Eve in the garden, backto gain and able that desire.
Cain, I want you to be infellowship with me, you know,
but your sin or your desire todo things, your way, is going to
separate us from thatrelationship.
And so here we can see the samething that gets always looking
(17:46):
for that relationship, and thenwhat it results in is successful
.
Michael Blue (17:53):
I think, I think the important point I mean even
tying this into you know some ofthe New Testament teaching
where Jesus, you know, is sayingwell done, good and faithful
servant.
You know the emphasisoftentimes and that's parable of
talents and parable of theminors, and we've talked about
this a bit but the emphasisoften kind of comes to the
(18:13):
production of the servant.
But the emphasis, I think, ison God first of all and second
of all the faithfulness of theservant, and so, again, the
return, the impact, whateverwords we want to use, is
ultimately in God's hands,whether you know, how far, to
what extent, he takes it, butthe faithfulness is kind of the
(18:38):
part that we play.
We have an opportunity to listen, we have an opportunity to hear
and follow, obey, and theresult is thriving.
And what that looks like,though, you know, will be
entirely up to God, but it willbe more intimacy with God I know
that to be true which,ultimately, is the ultimate
definition of thriving.
Dan Schilling (18:59):
Yes.
Michael Blue (19:01):
And so, then, that enables us, whatever situation
we're in, because some peopleare literally live in situations
and lives where you know, likethe early Christians were
thriving wasn't going to looklike what Hezekiah is thriving
or success.
Look like yes, yes.
And so they went to prison anddied by the mouths of lions.
Yes, but you could say theywere successful in their walk
(19:23):
and in their faithfulness, yes.
Dan Schilling (19:26):
So that's.
Michael Blue (19:26):
I think that's where we just want to make sure
we pull the needle back offaithfulness.
Is the call, not your return,not your whatever it is, god's
going to take care of that stuff, and it may be, you know, it
may be one way we picturesuccess, but it also may be
martyrdom or some other way thatwe may not long for in terms of
success.
Dan Schilling (19:46):
Yeah, don't.
I was studying when I waslooking through this today, just
that context of Isaiah when he,you know it says you know, here
I am, lord, send me.
I think it's Isaiah six.
Well what he calls him then todo is go deliver the bad news,
like, oh, wait a minute, Ithought it was gonna be all warm
(20:08):
and fuzzy.
You and I were laughing aboutthis.
Maybe we'll have a futureepisode on Isaiah 20.
I sent Michael a little theme Istudied today for my Isaiah 20.
And it's actually where I sayhow far are we willing to go in
our obedience?
Are we willing to God?
I trust you, I trust your wordto me that you're calling me.
(20:29):
You got a purpose and a plan.
And then Isaiah 20, god tellsIsaiah essentially to strip down
, take off your sack that you'rewearing here and your sandals
and walk around naked.
And then it goes on to say hewalks around naked for three
years and, speaking to aprophetic, what God's gonna do.
So I was like, hey, how far arewe willing to go in this
(20:49):
journey of obedience?
And I was like, well, you know.
I guess a little uncomfortable.
Michael Blue (20:58):
Grateful that calling seems to have been
fairly unique.
Dan Schilling (21:01):
Yeah, yeah.
Michael Blue (21:05):
For you and everybody else around you, right
?
Yeah, I bet it'd be real sureabout that one.
Dan Schilling (21:10):
Yeah, I was telling somebody here in the
office about this and I said,man, that'd have been good.
You know, that'd have beenweird If you had to do that
today.
I was like I'm pretty sure itwas weird back then too.
So you know these things thatgot asked of his people.
Sometimes you're talking aboutthe prophets and the things and
it's easy to say that we'regonna hear, follow and thrive.
But sometimes thriving or doingwhat God asks us to do isn't
(21:34):
easy.
And, yes, hopefully none of usever get that call Walk around.
You're probably gonna go tojail for that.
Michael Blue (21:43):
Yeah, maybe God put it there to say, well, it
could always be worse, I couldcall you to that?
Dan Schilling (21:49):
Yeah, this could get really bad if you, okay,
I'll just.
I'll go humble myself to myneighbor and say I'm sorry for
taking the thing that I did.
So I don't have to walk aroundmy neighbor naked.
So anyway, as we look backthrough the scriptures and see
that thriving being in God'spresence, doing what he asks us
(22:12):
to do, sometimes calls us to laydown something that we hold
true to and what we're gonna seein the next couple of episodes.
With Hezekiah, the peopleweren't like, oh great, let's
tear down the asherpahs, let'sdo all that.
Stepping into a situation andsaying, hey, this is what's
(22:34):
right and this is what we needto do, is not always accepted,
not always rejoiced over, Notalways like oh great idea.
I mean, you look at what Jesusdid when he came and what's the
Pharisees and Sadducees andthings he was saying, and the
disciples like, oh man, don'tyou know that these guys are
offended?
It's like, leave them.
They're blind guides.
Guys, we're not here to please.
(22:56):
We're here to do what God'sasked us to do and that's what
being my disciple is gonna be.
If you obey all these things,it's gonna go well with you, and
that's been God's heart all theway through.
Michael Blue (23:09):
Right, yeah, it's a great point.
I mean, I think sometimes Ihave the tendency to read these
stories and think that theirconditions even talking about
Isaiah, that there somehowsurroundings in their culture
would have made these thingseasier to do or these things
less weird to do.
But it's just not true.
(23:29):
I mean, there were some prettysmart people then and just as
there are now there are also andso to see things that were that
out of the ordinary and tearingdown all these things when you
tear down places that otherpeople are worshiping at, they
don't say thank you.
Dan Schilling (23:50):
No, they tend to fight you for it.
Get them all riled up realquick, right.
Michael Blue (23:54):
And so unless there's a spirit of repentance,
that comes, but that's not whatit speaks to here.
Certainly, maybe with Josiah orsome of the other ones, we see
more of that come through, buthere it's just like, look, what
my dad did was wrong and so I'mgonna tear it down.
Yeah, and you also.
Then I say, think with his son,as you mentioned the reaction
with Manasseh, where peoplealmost they push back even
(24:16):
farther when you come at themlike this, they got worse.
They got worse.
I mean, not only did hesacrifice his son, they took an
asherpul.
Instead of putting it on highplaces, they put it in the
temple.
Yeah, that's right, right.
And so it's like oh, you'regonna take that for me.
I'm gonna go so far, over thetop with this, that.
So, yeah, I mean, I think it'sreally important to realize that
(24:40):
this was difficult, even for aking.
Dan Schilling (24:43):
Yeah, Well, michael, you and I have talked
about this and what I referredto earlier as a friend was
telling me.
He said hey, you guys talkedabout retirement being the
golden calf in that episode.
He said I'm really convicted bythat and I said, well, these
are some idols, right?
Yeah, in our day.
And maybe you and I.
I said I sometimes think maybeyou and I might be stoned to
(25:06):
death sometime in our ownculture.
You know, by some of thesethings that we feel like that's
calling us to say to our cultureright, these are shiripoles,
these things that have becomeacceptable places of worship in
our society today, in our thing,and we don't even see it wrong.
We don't say, hey, this is okay.
I mean, you know, I'm doing itin, I'm doing it in Jesus' name.
(25:29):
And yet we what we looked at acouple of weeks ago in Matthew 7
, when he was saying you know,not everyone who calls on me,
lord, lord, in verse 721, noteveryone who calls, he says Lord
, lord, it's going to enter thekingdom of heaven.
There's going to be people thatare going to say Lord, didn't
we prophesy cast out demons anddo miracles in your name?
He says I will say to them awayfrom me, you evil doers, and
you say wait a minute, you know,I thought they were doing good
(25:54):
things like no, they, they,they're.
There was an idolatry that wasin place and thinking that we
can just use the name of God toget our.
You know, thinking so even backin those days, these people
thought that they were thechosen people of God and they
can act that way, do whateverand still violate the principles
of God and not be a consequence.
Michael Blue (26:19):
Yeah, what's, what's great is, to that point,
right before we get to 18 and atthe end of 17, where it's
talking about a has it actuallysays in verse 32 to 33, says
they also feared the Lord andappointed from among themselves
all sorts of people as priestsof the high places.
They fear the right, they fearthe Lord and they appointed
(26:41):
priests of the high places.
I think that's a mixture, yeah,and who sacrificed for them in
the shrines of the high places?
And then it says so they fearedthe Lord, capital LORD, so,
yahweh, they feared Yahweh, butalso served their own gods after
the manner of the nations fromamong whom they had been carried
away.
(27:02):
And so you have this, this ideaI think we see all throughout
history and our lives is like,well, I'm still doing these
things, you know, I still havepriests, I still am sacrificing
and I'm still fearing God, butyou know, like the idol, like
they've just been thrown in theculture that surrounded them's
idols and they've mixed.
(27:23):
You know, it's calledsyncretism and that's something
that we have to watch out for.
It's really hard to see,because when you live in the
middle of a culture, you're like, well, everyone else does this.
I don't.
I don't understand why it's,why it's idolatry.
Dan Schilling (27:36):
Wrong.
Michael Blue (27:37):
Yes, right, you know, that was maybe a little
easier because they actuallywere worshiping at a high place,
at a different shrine orsomething like that, but same
thing with our idols today.
So we got to really reallywatch and say am I fearing the
Lord and adopting the practicesof the people around me, yes, or
(27:57):
spying the same idols that theyare, or also serving our own
gods as you?
As they say, little G, yes, yes, so that's that's kind of where
Hezekiah came from, where it'slike, okay, guys, cut these two
apart.
Right, here's a Lord andfaithfully serve Him, not Him
plus, yes, yes.
Dan Schilling (28:20):
Well, and what we're going to see in the next
episode or two beyond thisbecause I think we've still got
some digging to do here in thisarea of trust is one to see how
big of it, how big of a dealthis is to God.
And it's not just contained inthe, in this story about
Hezekiah, this is throughout.
I do think you could go backand argue that this really is
(28:44):
part of the issue with Cain.
You know we trust me, we dothings my way.
Cain, you know, bring your bestand like no, I'm not going to
do it.
Adam and Eve, will you trust me?
Don't, you can have everything,just don't touch that, that
tree right there.
Just leave that one alone.
You know we trust me.
And so this issue of trust,we're going to see how important
(29:04):
it is to God, why it'simportant to us today and why
it's not just like well, youknow and I've said this before
it's easy to say we trust Goduntil we're putting a place
where we have to trust Him and Idon't think that's just talking
about the material things,right, I think it can be
sometimes like gosh, I, I'mgoing to, I feel like God's
(29:25):
called me to do something, but Idon't know how that's going to
work.
Like I need to go trust Him forthe provision of how to talk
with my son on this issue, youknow, because we got.
I don't want to trust Him.
He's not giving me wisdom.
I trust Him.
He's not giving me the patienceand the kindness and all the
other things that I'm going toneed in this situation.
So I think what we're going tocontinue to address here in this
(29:47):
issue of trust is why Godvalues it so much and why really
, what he's looking for is goesall the way back to what we've
been talking about is he desiresthe intimacy in relationship.
He desires us to hear His voice, to follow Him and thrive, no
matter what's going on in theworld around us, the culture,
what our background is.
Even if King Ahaz was our dad,he was a knucklehead.
(30:11):
You know that he wants toreveal Himself as trustworthy
and he has already done that,but he wants it just for us to
experience it personally and towhy to walk it out.
Michael Blue (30:25):
Yeah, that's good.
One of my favorite quotes Ihang on to from a pastor is we
all want to be in a position toexperience a miracle, which I'm
sorry.
We all want to experience amiracle, but we don't want to be
in a position to need one.
Dan Schilling (30:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, please not make me have to get
to that place, yeah.
Michael Blue (30:44):
I don't know that I want to need a miracle, but
I'd love to experience one.
Dan Schilling (30:47):
Yes, Well, because again we're going to
talk about these issues and whathelps us build these trust
muscles.
We talked about this a littlebit last episode when we were
going through Deuteronomy 8,great episode.
I encourage you to go back andcatch that part one and two of
that in it.
What God's heart has alwaysbeen and I've been thinking
(31:07):
about this, michael too from whythe manna?
You know that when he saysagain, man does not live by
bread alone, but every word thatproceeds from the mouth of the
father he wants us to learncomplete dependency upon him and
that hasn't changed.
The dangers are the thingsaround us, and we start looking
to them to be the things that weput our hope and trust in yeah.
(31:28):
He doesn't want that.
For us, it never works out.
He's got the bread, yes, andthen.
Well uh, we're gonna wrap uptoday and we're gonna continue
again this conversation in thenext episode.
Uh, we're gonna look some moreat Hezekiah, but for today, one
of the things I just want to Mayleave you with is one of the
(31:51):
first keys that we're gonna seeout of Hezekiah In building
these trust muscles.
I believe it's faithfulness.
That faithfulness is key andagain, the faithfulness is
hearing and obeying, and if wetrust him, when we hear, we'll
obey, we'll follow, and that,like Hezekiah, the outcome, when
it says he was successful andeverything that he did, that I
(32:13):
believe that's what God's desirefor us is.
Now, that's not my definitionor your definition, michael, of
what success looks like.
It actually is how God definesit, and so not always easy.
Michael Blue (32:23):
But yeah, and it, and all begins with knowing the
father.
Yes, uh, and if?
We don't know him to be a goodfather.
His commands will seem, youknow, oppressive, rigid,
whatever, like you pick, pickthe adjective.
But if I, if I know him and Iunderstand that he actually
loves me and so he's giving meInstructions that are for my
(32:45):
good, even if they're not for my, comfort.
Yes, then I will say you know,if I know him that way, then I,
then I am more likely to trusthim and say, okay, I don't,
don't see it, I don't understandit.
It's like the Abraham, isaac,jacob, joseph, right, they were
all praised in Hebrews 11 fortheir faith, for what they were
looking to on their deathbed.
(33:06):
Basically, all of them Isaac,jacob and Joseph Because they
had come to know the father andso they knew that the promise
that they had been made to them,that they had yet to see, was
going to be fulfilled in thefuture.
Yes, so it starts with ourknowledge of him, amen.
Dan Schilling (33:24):
Well, watch, pray for us.
Michael Blue (33:25):
We'll close out, go ahead good, I was just saying
, when I say knowledge, I don'tjust mean like I know about him,
I mean I know him.
Dan Schilling (33:32):
Yes, and I say a relationship.
Right, that's what I mean.
Yeah, good, why don't you prayfor?
Us, we'll close up for today,and then we'll Continue on next
time.
Michael Blue (33:41):
Good Thanks.
I got thanks for a chance tojust look at your faithfulness
To us and response even to timeswhen we are faithful, and so I
just pray that you would, I,give us the Just courage to draw
near to you and then thecourage to hear, follow and and
then experience the nearness ofthe view and the thriving that
that will Now.
(34:02):
Thanks for this time.
Thank you for your grace.
Jesus name amen, amen.
Dan Schilling (34:07):
Thanks for tuning in the FeedSheep podcast.
We'll see you again next time.
Good Bless you.
Hey, welcome to the Feed Sheep Podcast, where we
help you hear God's voice,follow His lead and thrive as a
disciple.
I'm Dan Schilling and I'll beone of your guides.
Now let's get into today'stopic.
Hey, welcome to the FeedSheepPodcast.
Thanks for tuning in.
Today we are going to continueon a topic we have been
addressing over the last coupleof episodes and it's about the
(00:28):
issue of trust, and I know thisis something that we're going to
continue to wrestle through allof our lives.
But, Michael, I'm glad to beback and talking with you about
this topic.
You and I have been wrestlingwith this.
I know you've been talkingabout it.
You actually were helping methis past week get out of a
ditch, because I'm falling apartsometimes on all this area of
(00:52):
trust and trusting God toprovide and trusting God to help
me get this technology issuessometimes.
So I'm grateful for you and ourfriendship.
Michael Blue (00:59):
Yeah, thanks, dan.
It's good to be here and gladto get to talk about this,
because it's one of those topics.
I think that for me and we'vetalked about this too in our
lives of you know it helps,having seen God be faithful in
the past, trust Him for thefuture.
But that doesn't mean it'seffortless.
So we continue to grow andsometimes, you know, the growth
(01:21):
is that he gives us biggerthings to trust Him for, but
oftentimes it's our own humandoubts and questions and all
that that we have to deal with.
So I think it's always arelevant topic and I'm excited
to dive in.
Dan Schilling (01:34):
Yeah, well, you can't be not to dark.
You hear about that because,you're right, it is an issue
that we struggle with and I'dsay we talked about this last
time a little bit that my issue,most of my trust, is about.
I'm trying to figure out whatI'm going to deal with in the
(01:56):
future.
What about this, what aboutthat?
And when I think about thestory where I'm talking about
today with Hezekiah and how Godone of the things he says about
Hezekiah and we're going to lookat that in just a minute it's
he was believing God for whatGod was going to do and what was
coming, and we're going to seehow this issue of trust is
really a lot of deals with that.
(02:16):
So good, well, why don't youpray for us?
Get us started?
Michael Blue (02:22):
Okay, moving father, thanks so much for these
times that we get to look atfaithful servants of you who
trusted you, and I just praythat we would grow in faith, we
would grow in trust, and thatyou would just continue to
encourage us and draw us near toyou as we have the opportunity
to trust you.
So I pray for all the listeners, I pray for Dan and I that you
(02:44):
would just fill us with moretrust today.
And Jesus name Amen.
Dan Schilling (02:48):
Amen.
Well, michael, I've spent sometime looking today, actually
just was intrigued by this storythat we're going to look at is
about King Hezekiah.
For folks, if you'd like tospend some time looking at
Hezekiah great stories aroundhim you're going to see the
(03:11):
primary topic around him inIsaiah, chapter 36 through 39.
You're going to also see thisin 2 Kings 18 to 20.
We're going to look at 2 Kings18 for our discussion here today
, and then we're also you'll see2nd Chronicles, 29 to 32.
(03:32):
And so, if you'd like to lookat those because we're going to
look at Hezekiah the nextepisode or two here and talk
about how he was a king whotrusted God, but he was facing a
lot of issues through hiskingship One of the things that
I saw today as I was studyingMichael is in 2 Chronicles 28.
(03:58):
We're not going to look at thisverse necessarily, but his dad
was Ahaz, king Ahaz, and whatwas interesting to me is that
this is in 2 Chronicles 28, 19to 24.
And it says that Ahaz wasutterly unfaithful.
He closed the temple, he set upthe shrines and the shirapoles,
(04:21):
and I mean there's nothing tobe more, I guess, than history.
You'd say, to have somethingwritten about you that you were
utterly unfaithful.
Like you, were the epitome ofno unfaithfulness.
Michael Blue (04:35):
So not something you want to go to and remember
for.
Dan Schilling (04:43):
So a lot of times you say, well, what's the point
of that in the story?
Well, a lot of times we canlook back at our own story, our
own journey, our own history,and we can say, well, you know,
my dad or my parents have thisissue and this issue, and that
caused me to not be trusting orcaused me not to be a certain
way.
(05:03):
And so I just was thinkingabout gosh, regardless of what
our past is and our present, westill always have this future in
front of us.
And Hezekiah was in a placewhen he took over and he
immediately said hey, wait aminute, what are we doing here?
(05:23):
And so we're going to look atthat, and so let's just go ahead
and jump into that for just asecond and we'll kind of bounce
back over some of these otherpassages if we have time, but
let's start this.
Second Kings.
I'm going to go back up toverse one and we're just going
to get a little bit of thehistory here of Hezekiah.
(05:44):
Again, this is second Kings 18,starting in verse one, and this
is the new living translation.
So you want to read one throughfour there, sure.
Michael Blue (05:55):
Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, began to rule over Judah
in the third year of KingHoshaiah's reign in Israel.
He was 25 years old when hebecame king and he reigned in
Jerusalem 29 years.
His mother was Abijah, thedaughter of Zechariah.
He did what was pleasing in theLord's sight, just as his
ancestor David had done.
He removed the pagan shrines,smashed the sacred pillars and
(06:18):
cut down the ashore bowls.
He broke up the bronze serpentthat Moses had made because the
people of Israel had beenoffering sacrifices to it.
The bronze serpent was calledNehish-Dun.
Dan Schilling (06:30):
Yeah, I don't hold your pronunciation on that,
I don't know.
You did a good job.
So there's a lot here in thisfirst text, right, this first
paragraph.
And so let's just talk throughthis a little bit.
So you say he's 25, a young guy, he takes over, he's going to
(06:51):
reign for 29 years, gives alittle bit of his heritage.
It tells us in verse that he didwhat was pleasing, like his
ancestor, david.
And this is where what startsto get interesting is that this
was, as I was looking at it,it's about five or six hundred
years after David was king.
So it wasn't like it was reallyclose, like he didn't know a
(07:11):
great grandpa David.
It's like this is generations.
There has been a generationaldisobedience going on throughout
the kings.
There's a split, obviously, ofthe kingdoms.
You know Judah and Jerusalem.
So that's why he's king ofJudah.
His father again had a share ofpoles, pagan shrines, all this
(07:37):
stuff.
So he comes in early in hisreign and says, kind of enough
of the nonsense here.
And then we also see that, thatbronze serpent, which was really
a symbol.
We even still have that symboltoday in our medical community,
right, I mean that bronzeserpent.
But that bronze serpent hasbeen passed on and the people
(08:02):
are worshiping it and you and Italked about like the golden
calf I was.
A friend of mine was telling me.
He said he's listening to oneof our episodes a while back
about the golden calf ofretirement and how sometimes we
just start worshiping somethinglike what are we doing here?
And it wasn't even a bad thing.
This is, you know.
It was a good thing, this iswhat redeemed them right.
Look upon this steak and you'llbe and so, and it actually had a
(08:30):
name and so, yeah, give me someof your thoughts and insight.
Michael Blue (08:35):
Yeah, you know, I've you, and I did a kind of a
co-teaching one time, a coupleyears back, if you remember.
Dan Schilling (08:42):
Yeah.
Michael Blue (08:42):
And I kind of came in with the hammer and I talked
about the kings of Judah.
Dan Schilling (08:49):
Yes.
Michael Blue (08:50):
And you know it's interesting, as I think back on
that, that you know Israelbasically had no good kings, so
this King Hosea was likely anevil king.
Ahaz was an evil king who camebefore in Judah, but Hezekiah is
one of four that were, you know, viewed as good kings.
There's about four others thatwere viewed as kind of had some
good, either a good start and abad finish, or bad start and
(09:13):
good finish, or something likethat.
But we're kind of more lukewarmand the rest of them were bad.
Yes, and so you look at atsomeone like Hezekiah, who's
coming into the midst of, youknow, just generations of really
bad kings and bad leadershipand all that, and you know,
somehow his mom, right, which Igot to think that she was a big
(09:36):
part of his faithfulness becauseshe would Zachariah's daughter,
right, so clearly his dadwasn't the guy who was
influencing him, and so itdoesn't spell it out, but we can
kind of make some assumptionsby who she is and what she.
The fact that she was his momand that she's mentioned here is
, I think, significant.
(09:57):
Yeah, it's good and that aswell.
So there was somebody in hislife, namely his mom, who was
dealing with a husband whocouldn't have been more opposite
of what her father was.
Yes, and here she is raising ason who then ends up being a
godly son and a godly leader,despite kind of all of the back
you know, the baggage that hecame with.
(10:19):
Yes, so that's kind of a couplethings that jump out at me as we
look at this.
Yeah so good?
Yeah, I was just going to say.
The other thing is, is theviolence with which he destroyed
the things that were anathemato God right?
He removed the pagan tribes andsmashed the pillars and then
cut down the ashropoles.
This wasn't like, well, let'scover them up.
You know it's repurposed somemaybe we'll make that ashropole
(10:43):
into you know it's that gamewhere you hit the pole around
the pole.
Dan Schilling (10:47):
Yeah, tether ball .
Michael Blue (10:49):
Tether ball right.
The first tether ball happenedwas with a rock in the string.
No, it's pretty dangerous, butno, they ripped him down.
Dan Schilling (10:58):
Yeah, yes, well, I was going to say is you have a
great point of you know, eventhe faithfulness of moms
sometimes too.
You know probably a lot ofthese kings throughout.
You know, having multiplechildren with multiple wives.
You know where the mom reallyprobably was a very influential
(11:22):
figure in their lives for manyof them.
And so you have a faithful momwho probably was discipling and
training this young man.
So there is a lot of good thatyou see.
Thank you for mom and all yougood moms out there who were
looking out for us and we wereyounger.
(11:43):
And I think we have a thing yousaid about Hezekiah too.
We're going to talk about this.
We won't get to it today, butyou know, hezekiah in some ways
doesn't finish well either,right, I mean, he, he, he
prospers.
You know, we're going to seewhat, how God views him here in
just a second.
But then he prospers and andthrough all that prospering,
he's like, yeah, this is great.
(12:03):
And then, you know, invites theBabylonians, you know, and to
come see all of this stuff, andIsaiah is like, hey, what are
you doing, man?
And you know, and then it'skind of his at the end, as I was
studying this again today he'slike, well, you know, at least
I'll have peace in my lifetime.
You know, like, come on, really, dude, you know.
And then you see his son,manasseh, you know, is a
(12:25):
trainwreck who essentiallyreinstitutes all of the polls,
all of this.
You know pagan shrines, all theashira poll, you know all the
stuff.
So like, oh, my goodness, whatare we doing?
Michael Blue (12:36):
So yeah, and he was.
He was the one who who offeredhis son right.
Dan Schilling (12:42):
Yes, yeah, yeah, man, it's like what are you
doing, you know?
So, yeah, okay, I said it did.
He was like he was one of theway the sorcery, the divination,
the stuff that he brought inwas unparalleled, and it says
how it angered the Lord.
And so you just reminded againof our you know, there, I heard
(13:04):
a guy say this years ago thereis no spiritual grandchildren.
You know, like, where each oneof us are called to disciple the
next generation, those whofollow us, and so you know,
that's probably another bigfailure on Hezekiah's part.
And yeah, I don't.
I don't know how many kidsthese guys had.
You know, I have seven.
It's hard enough just to keeptrack of them.
(13:25):
I mean, some of these guysprobably had who knows how many,
because he says they're goingto take away his sons.
That's what Isaiah prophesiedSome of your sons are going to
go and they're going to be Unix,and so Right, yeah, not always
a good scenario.
Michael Blue (13:38):
It is a good.
Yeah, I mean we could go downprobably a little bit of a
rabbit trail on on parenting,but yeah, that's a, that's a
huge encouragement to rememberthat that it does.
You know, god does redeemgenerations.
But it's also not this promiseof.
I mean we have to be vigilantin in training up our, our kids.
Dan Schilling (14:02):
Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Well, let's, let's go on, sincewe're talking about trust and
we're going to see here, really,I think, where this lines up
with the theme of what we wantto accomplish each time when
we're here for the podcast ishelp people to hear God's voice,
follow his lead and thrive asdisciples, and I believe what
we're going to see here is a keyaspect as disciples to thrive.
(14:27):
So let's look here, starting inagain second Kings 18, and pick
up there in verse five and readdown through eight through
eight.
All right.
Michael Blue (14:36):
So Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of
Israel.
There was no one like him amongall the Kings of Judah, either
before or after his time.
He remained faithful to theLord and everything, and he
carefully obeyed all thecommands the Lord had given
Moses.
So the Lord was with him andHezekiah was successful in
everything he did.
He revolted against the King ofAssyria and refused to pay him
(14:56):
tribute.
He also conquered thePhilistines as far distant as
Gaza and his territory, fromtheir smallest outposts to their
largest walled city.
Dan Schilling (15:06):
Okay, so there's several things here.
Again, I think the key to me isthat Hezekiah trusted the Lord,
the God of Israel.
I don't know why it says itdoesn't say the God of Israel
and Judah, but the God of Israel.
Here, yeah.
Michael Blue (15:22):
There was what's that.
Yeah, no, why is that?
Well, I would imagine.
I mean Israel is the wholenation.
Still, yes right, even thoughthe split you'd have Israel and
Judah, but I think that you'dhave probably better said the
northern tribes of Israel andJudah.
Dan Schilling (15:41):
Yes, yes, so God season is one still right.
That's a good point.
And there's to me this was keyagain that there's no one like
him among the kings of Judah,either before him or after him.
So he was designated by histrust and that he remained
faithful to the Lord andeverything, carefully obeying
(16:01):
everything.
And because of that, because ofthat trust, because of that
faithfulness and because of thatcareful obedience, then to me
the result was so the Lord waswith him and he was successful
in all that.
He did everything.
And I think, as we've talkedthrough Michael on this again,
(16:22):
the goal for us is to hear God'svoice, to follow or to obey and
to thrive.
And so I see that here therewas no one like him before.
He remained faithful, meaninghe would hear God's voice.
And this to me, when I thinkabout a faithful child, you know
, if I was giving one of my sonsa designation of faithfulness,
(16:44):
it's like I've asked them to dosomething and they followed
through with it.
Right, they were faithful.
Take out the trash.
When I come in, the trash isgone.
It's not like just sittingoutside of the can.
It's not sitting out in agarage all over the place.
It's not, you know, it actuallygot completed all the way
through.
Every step they were faithful,they did what was asked of them
(17:05):
to do, and so, as a guy hears,he follows, he carefully obeys,
and because of that, the resultof that is that God's with him,
that that fellowship, thatintimacy that is available still
to you and I, and that thatgoal that God's always had from
the beginning is always being infellowship and unity and
(17:26):
communication and building thatrelationship with us back to
Adam and Eve in the garden, backto gain and able that desire.
Cain, I want you to be infellowship with me, you know,
but your sin or your desire todo things, your way, is going to
separate us from thatrelationship.
And so here we can see the samething that gets always looking
(17:46):
for that relationship, and thenwhat it results in is successful
.
Michael Blue (17:53):
I think, I think the important point I mean even
tying this into you know some ofthe New Testament teaching
where Jesus, you know, is sayingwell done, good and faithful
servant.
You know the emphasisoftentimes and that's parable of
talents and parable of theminors, and we've talked about
this a bit but the emphasisoften kind of comes to the
(18:13):
production of the servant.
But the emphasis, I think, ison God first of all and second
of all the faithfulness of theservant, and so, again, the
return, the impact, whateverwords we want to use, is
ultimately in God's hands,whether you know, how far, to
what extent, he takes it, butthe faithfulness is kind of the
(18:38):
part that we play.
We have an opportunity to listen, we have an opportunity to hear
and follow, obey, and theresult is thriving.
And what that looks like,though, you know, will be
entirely up to God, but it willbe more intimacy with God I know
that to be true which,ultimately, is the ultimate
definition of thriving.
Dan Schilling (18:59):
Yes.
Michael Blue (19:01):
And so, then, that enables us, whatever situation
we're in, because some peopleare literally live in situations
and lives where you know, likethe early Christians were
thriving wasn't going to looklike what Hezekiah is thriving
or success.
Look like yes, yes.
And so they went to prison anddied by the mouths of lions.
Yes, but you could say theywere successful in their walk
(19:23):
and in their faithfulness, yes.
Dan Schilling (19:26):
So that's.
Michael Blue (19:26):
I think that's where we just want to make sure
we pull the needle back offaithfulness.
Is the call, not your return,not your whatever it is, god's
going to take care of that stuff, and it may be, you know, it
may be one way we picturesuccess, but it also may be
martyrdom or some other way thatwe may not long for in terms of
success.
Dan Schilling (19:46):
Yeah, don't.
I was studying when I waslooking through this today, just
that context of Isaiah when he,you know it says you know, here
I am, lord, send me.
I think it's Isaiah six.
Well what he calls him then todo is go deliver the bad news,
like, oh, wait a minute, Ithought it was gonna be all warm
(20:08):
and fuzzy.
You and I were laughing aboutthis.
Maybe we'll have a futureepisode on Isaiah 20.
I sent Michael a little theme Istudied today for my Isaiah 20.
And it's actually where I sayhow far are we willing to go in
our obedience?
Are we willing to God?
I trust you, I trust your wordto me that you're calling me.
(20:29):
You got a purpose and a plan.
And then Isaiah 20, god tellsIsaiah essentially to strip down
, take off your sack that you'rewearing here and your sandals
and walk around naked.
And then it goes on to say hewalks around naked for three
years and, speaking to aprophetic, what God's gonna do.
So I was like, hey, how far arewe willing to go in this
(20:49):
journey of obedience?
And I was like, well, you know.
I guess a little uncomfortable.
Michael Blue (20:58):
Grateful that calling seems to have been
fairly unique.
Dan Schilling (21:01):
Yeah, yeah.
Michael Blue (21:05):
For you and everybody else around you, right
?
Yeah, I bet it'd be real sureabout that one.
Dan Schilling (21:10):
Yeah, I was telling somebody here in the
office about this and I said,man, that'd have been good.
You know, that'd have beenweird If you had to do that
today.
I was like I'm pretty sure itwas weird back then too.
So you know these things thatgot asked of his people.
Sometimes you're talking aboutthe prophets and the things and
it's easy to say that we'regonna hear, follow and thrive.
But sometimes thriving or doingwhat God asks us to do isn't
(21:34):
easy.
And, yes, hopefully none of usever get that call Walk around.
You're probably gonna go tojail for that.
Michael Blue (21:43):
Yeah, maybe God put it there to say, well, it
could always be worse, I couldcall you to that?
Dan Schilling (21:49):
Yeah, this could get really bad if you, okay,
I'll just.
I'll go humble myself to myneighbor and say I'm sorry for
taking the thing that I did.
So I don't have to walk aroundmy neighbor naked.
So anyway, as we look backthrough the scriptures and see
that thriving being in God'spresence, doing what he asks us
(22:12):
to do, sometimes calls us to laydown something that we hold
true to and what we're gonna seein the next couple of episodes.
With Hezekiah, the peopleweren't like, oh great, let's
tear down the asherpahs, let'sdo all that.
Stepping into a situation andsaying, hey, this is what's
(22:34):
right and this is what we needto do, is not always accepted,
not always rejoiced over, Notalways like oh great idea.
I mean, you look at what Jesusdid when he came and what's the
Pharisees and Sadducees andthings he was saying, and the
disciples like, oh man, don'tyou know that these guys are
offended?
It's like, leave them.
They're blind guides.
Guys, we're not here to please.
(22:56):
We're here to do what God'sasked us to do and that's what
being my disciple is gonna be.
If you obey all these things,it's gonna go well with you, and
that's been God's heart all theway through.
Michael Blue (23:09):
Right, yeah, it's a great point.
I mean, I think sometimes Ihave the tendency to read these
stories and think that theirconditions even talking about
Isaiah, that there somehowsurroundings in their culture
would have made these thingseasier to do or these things
less weird to do.
But it's just not true.
(23:29):
I mean, there were some prettysmart people then and just as
there are now there are also andso to see things that were that
out of the ordinary and tearingdown all these things when you
tear down places that otherpeople are worshiping at, they
don't say thank you.
Dan Schilling (23:50):
No, they tend to fight you for it.
Get them all riled up realquick, right.
Michael Blue (23:54):
And so unless there's a spirit of repentance,
that comes, but that's not whatit speaks to here.
Certainly, maybe with Josiah orsome of the other ones, we see
more of that come through, buthere it's just like, look, what
my dad did was wrong and so I'mgonna tear it down.
Yeah, and you also.
Then I say, think with his son,as you mentioned the reaction
with Manasseh, where peoplealmost they push back even
(24:16):
farther when you come at themlike this, they got worse.
They got worse.
I mean, not only did hesacrifice his son, they took an
asherpul.
Instead of putting it on highplaces, they put it in the
temple.
Yeah, that's right, right.
And so it's like oh, you'regonna take that for me.
I'm gonna go so far, over thetop with this, that.
So, yeah, I mean, I think it'sreally important to realize that
(24:40):
this was difficult, even for aking.
Dan Schilling (24:43):
Yeah, Well, michael, you and I have talked
about this and what I referredto earlier as a friend was
telling me.
He said hey, you guys talkedabout retirement being the
golden calf in that episode.
He said I'm really convicted bythat and I said, well, these
are some idols, right?
Yeah, in our day.
And maybe you and I.
I said I sometimes think maybeyou and I might be stoned to
(25:06):
death sometime in our ownculture.
You know, by some of thesethings that we feel like that's
calling us to say to our cultureright, these are shiripoles,
these things that have becomeacceptable places of worship in
our society today, in our thing,and we don't even see it wrong.
We don't say, hey, this is okay.
I mean, you know, I'm doing itin, I'm doing it in Jesus' name.
(25:29):
And yet we what we looked at acouple of weeks ago in Matthew 7
, when he was saying you know,not everyone who calls on me,
lord, lord, in verse 721, noteveryone who calls, he says Lord
, lord, it's going to enter thekingdom of heaven.
There's going to be people thatare going to say Lord, didn't
we prophesy cast out demons anddo miracles in your name?
He says I will say to them awayfrom me, you evil doers, and
you say wait a minute, you know,I thought they were doing good
(25:54):
things like no, they, they,they're.
There was an idolatry that wasin place and thinking that we
can just use the name of God toget our.
You know, thinking so even backin those days, these people
thought that they were thechosen people of God and they
can act that way, do whateverand still violate the principles
of God and not be a consequence.
Michael Blue (26:19):
Yeah, what's, what's great is, to that point,
right before we get to 18 and atthe end of 17, where it's
talking about a has it actuallysays in verse 32 to 33, says
they also feared the Lord andappointed from among themselves
all sorts of people as priestsof the high places.
They fear the right, they fearthe Lord and they appointed
(26:41):
priests of the high places.
I think that's a mixture, yeah,and who sacrificed for them in
the shrines of the high places?
And then it says so they fearedthe Lord, capital LORD, so,
yahweh, they feared Yahweh, butalso served their own gods after
the manner of the nations fromamong whom they had been carried
away.
(27:02):
And so you have this, this ideaI think we see all throughout
history and our lives is like,well, I'm still doing these
things, you know, I still havepriests, I still am sacrificing
and I'm still fearing God, butyou know, like the idol, like
they've just been thrown in theculture that surrounded them's
idols and they've mixed.
(27:23):
You know, it's calledsyncretism and that's something
that we have to watch out for.
It's really hard to see,because when you live in the
middle of a culture, you're like, well, everyone else does this.
I don't.
I don't understand why it's,why it's idolatry.
Dan Schilling (27:36):
Wrong.
Michael Blue (27:37):
Yes, right, you know, that was maybe a little
easier because they actuallywere worshiping at a high place,
at a different shrine orsomething like that, but same
thing with our idols today.
So we got to really reallywatch and say am I fearing the
Lord and adopting the practicesof the people around me, yes, or
(27:57):
spying the same idols that theyare, or also serving our own
gods as you?
As they say, little G, yes, yes, so that's that's kind of where
Hezekiah came from, where it'slike, okay, guys, cut these two
apart.
Right, here's a Lord andfaithfully serve Him, not Him
plus, yes, yes.
Dan Schilling (28:20):
Well, and what we're going to see in the next
episode or two beyond thisbecause I think we've still got
some digging to do here in thisarea of trust is one to see how
big of it, how big of a dealthis is to God.
And it's not just contained inthe, in this story about
Hezekiah, this is throughout.
I do think you could go backand argue that this really is
(28:44):
part of the issue with Cain.
You know we trust me, we dothings my way.
Cain, you know, bring your bestand like no, I'm not going to
do it.
Adam and Eve, will you trust me?
Don't, you can have everything,just don't touch that, that
tree right there.
Just leave that one alone.
You know we trust me.
And so this issue of trust,we're going to see how important
(29:04):
it is to God, why it'simportant to us today and why
it's not just like well, youknow and I've said this before
it's easy to say we trust Goduntil we're putting a place
where we have to trust Him and Idon't think that's just talking
about the material things,right, I think it can be
sometimes like gosh, I, I'mgoing to, I feel like God's
(29:25):
called me to do something, but Idon't know how that's going to
work.
Like I need to go trust Him forthe provision of how to talk
with my son on this issue, youknow, because we got.
I don't want to trust Him.
He's not giving me wisdom.
I trust Him.
He's not giving me the patienceand the kindness and all the
other things that I'm going toneed in this situation.
So I think what we're going tocontinue to address here in this
(29:47):
issue of trust is why Godvalues it so much and why really
, what he's looking for is goesall the way back to what we've
been talking about is he desiresthe intimacy in relationship.
He desires us to hear His voice, to follow Him and thrive, no
matter what's going on in theworld around us, the culture,
what our background is.
Even if King Ahaz was our dad,he was a knucklehead.
(30:11):
You know that he wants toreveal Himself as trustworthy
and he has already done that,but he wants it just for us to
experience it personally and towhy to walk it out.
Michael Blue (30:25):
Yeah, that's good.
One of my favorite quotes Ihang on to from a pastor is we
all want to be in a position toexperience a miracle, which I'm
sorry.
We all want to experience amiracle, but we don't want to be
in a position to need one.
Dan Schilling (30:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, please not make me have to get
to that place, yeah.
Michael Blue (30:44):
I don't know that I want to need a miracle, but
I'd love to experience one.
Dan Schilling (30:47):
Yes, Well, because again we're going to
talk about these issues and whathelps us build these trust
muscles.
We talked about this a littlebit last episode when we were
going through Deuteronomy 8,great episode.
I encourage you to go back andcatch that part one and two of
that in it.
What God's heart has alwaysbeen and I've been thinking
(31:07):
about this, michael too from whythe manna?
You know that when he saysagain, man does not live by
bread alone, but every word thatproceeds from the mouth of the
father he wants us to learncomplete dependency upon him and
that hasn't changed.
The dangers are the thingsaround us, and we start looking
to them to be the things that weput our hope and trust in yeah.
(31:28):
He doesn't want that.
For us, it never works out.
He's got the bread, yes, andthen.
Well uh, we're gonna wrap uptoday and we're gonna continue
again this conversation in thenext episode.
Uh, we're gonna look some moreat Hezekiah, but for today, one
of the things I just want to Mayleave you with is one of the
(31:51):
first keys that we're gonna seeout of Hezekiah In building
these trust muscles.
I believe it's faithfulness.
That faithfulness is key andagain, the faithfulness is
hearing and obeying, and if wetrust him, when we hear, we'll
obey, we'll follow, and that,like Hezekiah, the outcome, when
it says he was successful andeverything that he did, that I
(32:13):
believe that's what God's desirefor us is.
Now, that's not my definitionor your definition, michael, of
what success looks like.
It actually is how God definesit, and so not always easy.
Michael Blue (32:23):
But yeah, and it, and all begins with knowing the
father.
Yes, uh, and if?
We don't know him to be a goodfather.
His commands will seem, youknow, oppressive, rigid,
whatever, like you pick, pickthe adjective.
But if I, if I know him and Iunderstand that he actually
loves me and so he's giving meInstructions that are for my
(32:45):
good, even if they're not for my, comfort.
Yes, then I will say you know,if I know him that way, then I,
then I am more likely to trusthim and say, okay, I don't,
don't see it, I don't understandit.
It's like the Abraham, isaac,jacob, joseph, right, they were
all praised in Hebrews 11 fortheir faith, for what they were
looking to on their deathbed.
(33:06):
Basically, all of them Isaac,jacob and Joseph Because they
had come to know the father andso they knew that the promise
that they had been made to them,that they had yet to see, was
going to be fulfilled in thefuture.
Yes, so it starts with ourknowledge of him, amen.
Dan Schilling (33:24):
Well, watch, pray for us.
Michael Blue (33:25):
We'll close out, go ahead good, I was just saying
, when I say knowledge, I don'tjust mean like I know about him,
I mean I know him.
Dan Schilling (33:32):
Yes, and I say a relationship.
Right, that's what I mean.
Yeah, good, why don't you prayfor?
Us, we'll close up for today,and then we'll Continue on next
time.
Michael Blue (33:41):
Good Thanks.
I got thanks for a chance tojust look at your faithfulness
To us and response even to timeswhen we are faithful, and so I
just pray that you would, I,give us the Just courage to draw
near to you and then thecourage to hear, follow and and
then experience the nearness ofthe view and the thriving that
that will Now.
(34:02):
Thanks for this time.
Thank you for your grace.
Jesus name amen, amen.
Dan Schilling (34:07):
Thanks for tuning in the FeedSheep podcast.
We'll see you again next time.
Good Bless you.
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