Generation Now

[WalterandDebbie]

Saturday 12-4-21 Kislev 28, 5782 7th. day of the weekly cycle, 74th. Fall Day



Generation Now

Read: 2 Kings 20:1–19 | Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 47–48; 1 John 3
Download MP3
Subscribe to iTunes

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. 2 Kings 20:2

“Never trust anyone over thirty,” said young environmentalist Jack Weinberg in 1964. His comment stereotyped an entire generation—something Weinberg later regretted. Looking back, he said, “Something I said off the top of my head . . . became completely distorted and misunderstood.”

Have you heard disparaging comments aimed at millennials? Or vice versa? Ill thoughts directed from one generation toward another can cut both ways. Surely there’s a better way.

Although he was an excellent king, Hezekiah showed a lack of concern for another generation. When, as a young man, Hezekiah was struck with a terminal illness (2 Kings 20:1), he cried out to God for his life (vv. 2–3). God gave him fifteen more years (v. 6).

But when Hezekiah received the terrible news that his children would one day be taken captive, the royal tears were conspicuously absent (vv. 16–18). He thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?” (v. 19). It may have been that Hezekiah didn’t apply the passion he had for his own well-being to the next generation.

God calls us to a love that dares to cross the lines dividing us. The older generation needs the fresh idealism and creativity of the younger, who in turn can benefit from the wisdom and experience of their predecessors. This is no time for snarky memes and slogans but for thoughtful exchange of ideas. We’re in this together.

In what ways do you think you may have ignored or disrespected others from a different age group? How might you use the gifts God has given you to serve them?

Forgive me, Father, for not appreciating others in a stage of life different from mine.

INSIGHT
King Hezekiah ruled the Southern Kingdom of Judah from about 727–698 bc. One of the few “good” kings of the south, Hezekiah drove idolatry from the land and destroyed the “high places” where false idols were being worshiped.

Second Kings 18:3–6 bears witness to Hezekiah’s spiritual character, asserting that “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done” (v. 3) and that “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” (v. 5).

By Tim Gustafson|December 4th, 2021

Our Daily Bread (odb.org)

https://odb.org/video

LOL, Walter and Debbie

 

[APAK]

Trusting in the LORD for our needs and to do the right things in our life to serve him and his will....

We change as we get older, in wisdom and insight, as in every generation, although at a whole, the latest generation 'seem' to stay younger, although not necessarily in heart and compassion for their previous generation, or even their own generation. I do see a trend today in this direction, as a whole. Each and every generation in this modern fast-moving high tech world seems to be more impatient, selfish, and more heartless, IMO.

 

[WalterandDebbie]

Trusting in the LORD for our needs and to do the right things in our life to serve him and his will....

We change as we get older, in wisdom and insight, as in every generation, although at a whole, the latest generation 'seem' to stay younger, although not necessarily in heart and compassion for their previous generation, or even their own generation. I do see a trend today in this direction, as a whole. Each and every generation in this modern fast-moving high tech world seems to be more impatient, selfish, and more heartless, IMO.

It is good to have something, but to do the wrong things with it is another issue.

 

[APAK]

It is good to have something, but to do the wrong things with it is another issue.

I totally agree with you W&D. And then it is how our heart responses to it as we accumulate it or lose it: it can cause a yearning and a habit of greed or lust or one of envy, where it becomes an obsession, and overtakes us, and we soon are slaves to it.

 

[amadeus]

@WalterandDebbie
What are doing with what we have? Have we moved away from selfishness since we first believed? Are we now moving in that direction?

Hezekiah was indeed a good king, but his vision of all that God was and of all that God was doing was flawed as our own views at times are likely flawed.

God is God, but as Hezekiah was not God also neither are we, even though we may have a "new man" within us. Are we growing toward the selflessness that Jesus, as a man, lived until he died?

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." Phil 2:3

Let us look to being like Jesus or if you will, like a Hezekiah who never made that final selfish request!

Jesus did make what could have been viewed as a selfish request except for following added words: "... nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." [Matt 26:39]

What a mighty God we serve!

 

[WalterandDebbie]

@WalterandDebbie
What are doing with what we have? Have we moved away from selfishness since we first believed? Are we now moving in that direction?

Hezekiah was indeed a good king, but his vision of all that God was and of all that God was doing was flawed as our own views at times are likely flawed.

God is God, but as Hezekiah was not God also neither are we, even though we may have a "new man" within us. Are we growing toward the selflessness that Jesus, as a man, lived until he died?

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." Phil 2:3

Let us look to being like Jesus or if you will, like a Hezekiah who never made that final selfish request!

Jesus did make what could have been viewed as a selfish request except for following added words: "... nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." [Matt 26:39]

What a mighty God we serve!

I used to want to have my way for some things but now, I have been taking heed to those things, and I have been doing the things of His words, Thank you.

Love, Walter

 

[Angelina]

I love the story of Hezekiah as it brings back memories of my parents, particularly my Dad.

A few years ago now, my mother came to see me and tell me that Dad was needing an urgent operation and because of his age [he was much older than my mom] the chances of recuperating from that operation was minimal. Basically the doctors had said that he would possibly die if they operated on him. However, if he did not have this operation, he would die anyway.

Both my parents were unbelievers at the time and I knew that my mom was relying on my faith in God for a miracle...I went into prayer on my knees and talked to the Lord about Isaiah 38 and said "Lord, you added another 15 years onto Hezekiahs life, you can also do this for my father because he is not saved and if he dies right now, I will never see him again" I wrestled with the Lord throughout the whole night until dawn the following day on this matter...in the midst of it all I could hear the Holy Spirit telling me to relent [cease and desist] but I could not because I knew what the price would be...so I continued. Finally, after a long period of wrestling with God through prayer, I relented and said that whatever happens Lord, let your will be done.

I prayed that when the doctors [specialists] check up on him the following day, that they will find nothing and Lord I pray that you will let him come home from the hospital because he hates being there. To make a long story short...my father, who was in hospital at the time, was checked over by specialists [in preparation for the possible surgery] and they could not find a thing wrong with him...All they said was " whatever was there before, is not there now" and that was it.

He was sent home that day. My mom got saved through it and my dad got saved later on. BTW...God added another 7 years to my dads life and he has now gone to be with the Lord. After many years, my mom eventually joined my Dad at their new address with Jesus in the Kingdom of heaven... Glory!

 

[amadeus]

I love the story of Hezekiah as it brings back memories of my parents, particularly my Dad.

A few years ago now, my mother came to see me and tell me that Dad was needing an urgent operation and because of his age [he was much older than my mom] the chances of recuperating from that operation was minimal. Basically the doctors had said that he would possibly die if they operated on him. However, if he did not have this operation, he would die anyway.

Both my parents were unbelievers at the time and I knew that my mom was relying on my faith in God for a miracle...I went into prayer on my knees and talked to the Lord about Isaiah 38 and said "Lord, you added another 15 years onto Hezekiahs life, you can also do this for my father because he is not saved and if he dies right now, I will never see him again" I wrestled with the Lord throughout the whole night until dawn the following day on this matter...in the midst of it all I could hear the Holy Spirit telling me to relent [cease and desist] but I could not because I knew what the price would be...so I continued. Finally, after a long period of wrestling with God through prayer, I relented and said that whatever happens Lord, let your will be done.

I prayed that when the doctors [specialists] check up on him the following day, that they will find nothing and Lord I pray that you will let him come home from the hospital because he hates being there. To make a long story short...my father, who was in hospital at the time, was checked over by specialists [in preparation for the possible surgery] and they could not find a thing wrong with him...All they said was " whatever was there before, is not there now" and that was it.

He was sent home that day. My mom got saved through it and my dad got saved later on. BTW...God added another 7 years to my dads life and he has now gone to be with the Lord. After many years, my mom eventually joined my Dad at their new address with Jesus in the Kingdom of heaven... Glory!

Glory to God indeed! What a mighty God we serve!

 

[WalterandDebbie]

I love the story of Hezekiah as it brings back memories of my parents, particularly my Dad.

A few years ago now, my mother came to see me and tell me that Dad was needing an urgent operation and because of his age [he was much older than my mom] the chances of recuperating from that operation was minimal. Basically the doctors had said that he would possibly die if they operated on him. However, if he did not have this operation, he would die anyway.

Both my parents were unbelievers at the time and I knew that my mom was relying on my faith in God for a miracle...I went into prayer on my knees and talked to the Lord about Isaiah 38 and said "Lord, you added another 15 years onto Hezekiahs life, you can also do this for my father because he is not saved and if he dies right now, I will never see him again" I wrestled with the Lord throughout the whole night until dawn the following day on this matter...in the midst of it all I could hear the Holy Spirit telling me to relent [cease and desist] but I could not because I knew what the price would be...so I continued. Finally, after a long period of wrestling with God through prayer, I relented and said that whatever happens Lord, let your will be done.

I prayed that when the doctors [specialists] check up on him the following day, that they will find nothing and Lord I pray that you will let him come home from the hospital because he hates being there. To make a long story short...my father, who was in hospital at the time, was checked over by specialists [in preparation for the possible surgery] and they could not find a thing wrong with him...All they said was " whatever was there before, is not there now" and that was it.

He was sent home that day. My mom got saved through it and my dad got saved later on. BTW...God added another 7 years to my dads life and he has now gone to be with the Lord. After many years, my mom eventually joined my Dad at their new address with Jesus in the Kingdom of heaven... Glory!

Amen! Glory to God, what an amazing event.

 

[Mama Etna]

I had never considered the selfish aspect of Hezekiah until I read the devotional. But he did not show any concern for those after him and what they would suffer at the hands of the Babylonian invaders.