A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford
King Hezekiah ruled the nation of Israel at a critical time in their history, in 700 B.C. Though God had rescued the Israelites again and again from invaders, they ignored Him and worshiped the heathen, impotent gods of the nations around them. Those idols were so helpless they couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, certainly couldn’t answer a prayer. They had to be carried because they couldn’t walk and had to be nailed down so they wouldn’t fall! (See First Samuel 5:1-5.) Don’t sneer at the Philistines’ naivety. The man-made gods our culture worships—money, fame, security—are all as helpless to save us as that hand-carved headless god of the Philistines!
God sent the prophet Isaiah to King Hezekiah to warn him about the coming disaster:
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah,
“Listen to this message from the LORD:
The time is coming when everything in your palace—
all the treasures stored up by your ancestors until now—
will be carried off to Babylon.
Nothing will be left, says the LORD. . . .”
Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah,
“This message you have given me from the LORD is good.”
For the king was thinking,
“At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.”
2 Kings 20:16-19
But Hezekiah had settled for his own safety, his own security, his own peace of mind. He took no thought for his children, their children, the generations to come.
When I read this Scripture this week, I felt deep anger at Hezekiah’s selfishness. But then God seemed to tap me on the shoulder. “Libby, when it was reported last week that social security monies would run out by 2036, didn’t you think, ‘Well, I won’t worry about it. I’ll be in Heaven by then’? That sounds a lot like Hezekiah’s, ‘Oh well, at least I’ll have peace and security in my lifetime!’”
I could argue, “But I’m only one, and I’m very old. What effect could I have on 400 million American voters? I have no authority over politicians who blithly spend billions of dollars we don’t have, and so imperil our grandchildren’s future.”
If I really cared for my country for which so many have given so much, I could at least do the one thing God has commanded me to do. I could pray earnestly for my country.
The Scripture says, “I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this same way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity” (First Timothy 2:1,2).
If all of us really cared about our grandchildren and their future, we would pray earnestly for them. Then the God who answers prayer could undertake to do what we cannot do for them. We owe this to the Americans, men and women, who invested their lives at great cost for our freedom. Ought we not then do the same for our children and grandchildren?
May we never ever callously say, “At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.”