Recovery Devotional 297 No 'But's

JMD Devotional 297 2 Kings 18:1-6 No ‘But’s

IN THE third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began his twenty-nine-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Abi daughter of Zechariah. Hezekiah did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his [forefather] had done. He removed the high places, broke the images, cut down the Asherim, and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until then the Israelites had burned incense to it; but he called it Nehushtan [a bronze trifle].

Hezekiah trusted in, leaned on, and was confident in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that neither after him nor before him was any one of all the kings of Judah like him. For he clung and held fast to the Lord and ceased not to follow Him, but kept His commandments, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Israel and Judah had a slew of kings; some good, some bad, men mediocre and great, faithful and abominable; but Hezekiah was a king of distinction because he had no but (the third grader in me wants to laugh at that statement! “So how did he sit down?”) Even the relatively ‘good’ kings before him were on record for fearing the Lord, “but” failing to remove the high places of pagan worship, or for winking at idolatry, or for divided loyalty, etc. Hezekiah did not compartmentalize his personal spiritual beliefs and commitments from his public life as some political candidates do today; no, he was a man of uncompromising integrity. His commitment to God did not contain a “but”, an exception, and escape clause, a prenuptial agreement, a ‘safe distance’, no quantification whatsoever. Who among us would accept from their spouse, “I love you but…”, or “I am committed to you but…”, or “You are the only one, but…”

Dear God,

Let there be no “but”s in my epitaph. May I be like a store with empty shelves, for being completely sold out to You. May there be no question where my allegiance and commitment lie, and where my life is invested and my hopes are placed. You are my God; and I am Your’s and You are mine. I love You, I fear You, I submit to You, I serve You; no “but”s. May Your holy influence make this true for my innermost being.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

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