DEER SEASON and...DEAR SEASON

 

Our son purchased a new deer rifle and when he got home and really got a good look at what he had bought...he discovered that it is a dangerous gun. The way he explained it, he could use the gun and it would be okay, because he is aware of the flaws and the way it is made.   But...he is thinking on down the line when his grandchild may want to go hunting with it and he may not be around to warn him about it.

 

He brought it by and showed it to his dad today, but he is taking it back to the store to get his money back...hopefully. His thinking of his future generations.... made me thing of King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20, who was not thinking of his.

 

King Hezekiah was a good king. Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king of Judah and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. Here is what the Bible says about him in Chapter 18: "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, because the Israelites had been worshipping it and burning incense to it. He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow Him........"

 

But...he let his pride get in his way later. He was so proud of the treasures in the temple that he showed them off to the messengers of the King of Babylon. Then Isaiah the prophet went to him and asked, "What did those men say, and where did they come from?" "From a distant land, "Hezekiah replied,. "They came from Babylon." The 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."

 

Isaiah then told Hezekiah what the Lord had said. "The 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. And 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."

 

Do you think Hezekiah was upset because of this? It didn't sound like it. He said, "The word of the Lord you have spoken is good," Because he thought, "Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?" How sad...coming from such a great king of Judah.

 

You can read all about Hezekiah's reign from 2 Kings 18 through chapter 20. It is very interesting! Good King Hezekiah shows how we can walk with God...and still displease Him at times too. It calls for careful thinking on our part.

 

Thank you Wendell, and Kathy too, for thinking of our future generations with the situation of the gun...and also much more important stuff! DEER SEASON comes once a year for a few weeks...but DEAR SEASON is always open.