7.13.25
Feeling safe is a good thing, being safe is a better thing.
And
They are not always the same thing.
You can feel safe but be in actual danger.
A person can worry about a random pain, fearing the worst…”Oh no, I have some terrible cancer.”
And it turns out to be indigestion.
Another person can feel physically healthy, no pain at all…and have an unknown disease, lurking, and putting them in mortal danger.
Safe places, safe spaces, feel safe…the explosion of these and a number of related phrases into the vernacular indicate a few things about our culture.
1. People don’t actually feel safe, they often feel insecure.
2. People often believe that their greatest need is a feeling rather than a reality of safety.
*So, sometimes tragically, they go searching for feeling safe rather than actually being safe…this can make them far less safe in the long term.
3. This happens when believe they can maneuver and manipulate and demand…and somehow create actual “safety” in their lives…through their own demands on God and others.
I understand that it is good for people to be safe, to be able share openly and to feel safe in appropriate ways in relationships.
I mostly want my grandkids to feel safe around me, because they are safe with me.
Notice, I said “mostly”
They don’t always feel emotionally “safe” when they do what is wrong to do…they don’t like me to be unhappy with them.
I’m not going to hurt them…but I will address their sin…and their desire to please me is good…because I want what is best for them.
Ultimately…this kind of unsafe feeling attached to bad choices…will make them much safer in the long haul.
By the way…they love me, I get plenty of warm hugs and beautiful times with them…I would die for them, so they are safe as much as a human can make them safe.
But what they feel in a particular moment is not always my greatest concern (sometimes is)…their long-term good is always priority for me.
Ultimately, no one is physically “Safe”…we will all die…we are not really safe in these fragile bodies.
Relationally, no one is “safe” in being able to control the decisions of others, or what might happen to our loved ones.
This lack of safety with loved ones…can be terrifying if we allow it to dominate our thoughts and it can be destructive if we let it dictate our actions.
I have known people…who have acted consistently on their feelings of fear in relationships to the point it has destroyed those very relationships.
Being a human being is a very dangerous thing…floods can take our lives, or those we love in an instant.
Things can happen economically that can wipe out retirement savings…safety nets.
One crash on a highway you have traveled hundreds of times…can change your life completely…even if you are wearing a safety belt.
In a sense, feeling safe, is in many ways an illusion.
“Thanks for that Terry, I was having a pretty good morning until just now.”
“I didn’t come to church to become more miserable…I came to, you know…”feel safe.”
I hope you do feel safe here, but even more so, I pray you are safe eternally in Christ.
Let’s reframe what it means to be safe as a human.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27
The peace that Jesus gives is not the absence of trouble, or pain, or conflict, or danger…it is the presence of relationship with him.
Notice he said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”
How do you not “let” your heart be troubled?
You can’t always control your feelings…but you can control what you do with them, or what you let them do with you.
In line with last week…we talked about choosing to doubt our doubts, not our faith.
We must train to trust God’s word and Christ’s work…more than what we feel.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we HAVE peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:1
Since we have been justified through faith, we HAVE peace with God through Christ.
We have…peace…period.
We are eternally safe.
Feelings of peace can come and go…the reality of peace with God is permanent.
We stand now in his grace, and we rejoice in our future hope.
We also rejoice in our sufferings…this is certainly more choice than feeling.
In Christ, we are safe…we have peace with God.
Those who have not been justified, may feel safe, but they are not.
Those who have been justified, may at times feel unsafe, but they are.
This week you will read about King Hezekiah.
He was Judah’s best king.
He led the people in a national revival of faithfulness to God.
He reinstituted the sacrifices and festivals that God had given Israel in the law.
Before he could lead the people in worship to the true God, he first had to tear down the many pagan idols, altars and temples that had covered the land.
He even destroyed the bronze snake that Moses had made in the wilderness because the people had turned it into an idol.
God had ordered this object to be fashioned so that if the people would look to it, they would be saved from the nightmarish judgment of poisonous snakes everywhere.
Now, instead of reminding them of God’s judgement and his mercy found in repentance, they had made it into an idol.
In Hezekiah’s time, the object was now nearly a thousand years old and was a symbol of forgotten faithfulness and evidence that the human heart is, at its core, an idol maker.
Turning even a symbol of the true God’s mercy into an idol.
We make idols because of fear…we want control…we feel safer when we feel like we have control.
I like to feel like I am in control, precisely because I am insecure.
I tend avoid situations where I don’t feel in control…same reason.
We make idols that we believe we can control and manipulate to our own ends.
But idols do not make us safer…our sense of control is illusion…idolatry is dangerous and ultimately deadly.
Hezekiah was an idol breaker.
He called the snake, Nehushtan, (nay hesh ton) a word that meant “a bronze thing.”
This was a show of contempt for a contemptuous idol.
The snake was no mystical, magical object; it was simply that old bronze thing…toss it.
He unceremoniously destroyed it.
His dad was the wicked fool, King Ahaz…a man who had sacrificed at least one of Hezekiah’s brothers in the fire to an idol.
It is remarkable how differently he led than his dad had.
Our parent’s choices impact ours, but they do not pre-determine them.
Many people break free the gravitational pull of their parents…Hezekiah certainly did.
Here’s what the writer of Kings says about him.
“Hezekiah 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.”
2 Kings 18:5
Because he put God first, God prospered him…he experienced the favor of the Lord.
He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. 2 Kings 18:6,7
There is a distinction between the untrue prosperity gospel and the truth of the favor of the Lord in a faithful person’s life.
The prosperity gospel teaches that if you have enough faith God is bound to give you all that you want, or demand and he will keep you from all harm.
All prosperity gospel preachers will eventually come to the end of their own bad theology…some have died in disillusionment with cancer…all…like Jimmy Swaggert, who died recently…will come to the end of physical life…large faith or no faith…they will suffer physical suffering and death.
But the favor of the Lord in a person’s life is the fact that to live life in line God’s will and ways…will lead to maximal flourishing.
For instance, a marriage where God is put first through the years will experience long lasting love, joy, intimacy…and the children and grandchildren will have a base of stability for their lives as well.
It doesn’t mean they will be protected from all harm…it means they are “safe” in the will of God…and in this place of true safety, the favor of the Lord shows up in manifold practical ways.
My parents experienced this favor…as they broke generational curses, loved each other for decades, worked through many difficult trials together…and ultimately kept their vow till death parted them…and they left a legacy for us, my kids, my grandkids.
Both suffered in many ways, both died suffering great physical pain…and they experienced the favor of the Lord.
So, Hezekiah prospered and importantly, as per God’s design for the Kingdom…the people flourished under his godly leadership.
*(The following several paragraphs used www.gotquestions.org/life-Hezekiah)
In 701 BC, Hezekiah and all of Judah faced a crisis.
The Assyrians, the then dominant world power who had conquered the Northern kingdom (about 20 years earlier) came south to attack the capital city, Jerusalem.
They mocked God, saying he was as powerless as the gods of the many nations they had conquered.
And they said that he was not going to keep them from destroying Judah.
Hezekiah reached out to the prophet Isaiah, who was a trusted advisor, his chaplain (2 Kings 19:2).
The Lord told spoke and told them, that he would, by his own hand protect Jerusalem and send the Assyrians packing.
Hezekiah pleaded with God for help for their own good and God’s glory…it was a great prayer.
“Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God” (2 Kings 19:19)
That night the angel of God put to death 185K Assyrian soldiers…the rest withdrew in defeat.
You can see why Hezekiah was such an admired figure in the history of Judah.
Now, for the rest of the story.
Years later Hezekiah became very sick, and Isaiah told him to get his affairs in order because he was going to die. (2 Kings 20:1).
Hezekiah was physically unsafe…but there are worse things to be than that.
He cried out to God, wept bitterly…wanting more years to live.
Before Isaiah had even left the house, God said, “Tell him I will add 15 years to his life.”
God says he will do It for his own glory and for the sake of his covenant with David.
Hezekiah’s prayers mattered in this outcome, and God does not change his mind as men change theirs.
In Scripture there is what is called “implied conditional promises and curses.”
For instance, Jonah told Nineveh they would be destroyed, he didn’t say, “Unless they repented.”
The condition was implied, as it is in many of the covenant promises of blessings.
“You will be blessed…unless you turn away from me.”
The “unless” was not always verbalized…but it was always there.
Hezekiah begged for more years…he would have better off blessing God for what he had given him and died at that point.
Not long after the healing, the Babylonians sent a get will gift to Hezekiah by way of messengers.
Hezekiah puffed up his chest, showed them everything…all the treasures of the kingdom, the military arsenal…all of it.
Isaiah showed up and rebuked him…”The day will come,” he said…when all this stuff and your own future family would be carried off by the Babylonians.
In the years after his illness, Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, who would turn out to be the worst king to ever reign in Judah.
He was an evil human being.
Tradition says that it is Manasseh who murdered the prophet Isaiah, Hezekiah’s friend, and advisor.
Probably because Isaiah told him the truth.
2 Chronicles 32:24 gives a good summary of Hezekiah’s later years and the long-term impact of his life.
“In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the Lord, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign. 2But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the Lord’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the Lord’s wrath did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.”
So, what are we to make of this man’s life?
He was the best of Judah’s kings, but he was inconsistent and proud…and his pride would be costly.
Rick Atkinson is a historian who won a Pulitzer prize for his book “An Army at Dawn” about the North African campaign in WWII.
I read that book and I started listening to a book by him about the American revolutionary war.
His style is to neither make historical figures into larger-than-life heroic myths nor to diminish their greatness and impact because of their human failings.
I like that…people are complicated.
The Bible does this.
Scripture doesn’t cancel Hezekiah because of his sin, and it doesn’t gloss over his sins and make him more than he was.
He was a great king, who did great things…he was a proud king, who made some terrible choices.
I want to offer three biblical principles from Hezekiah’s’ life that should shape our lives.
1. We should be determined to finish well.
-This is not just true for old men and women
-If you are young, you have no idea how long you will live…finishing well is a life-long training program.
Earlier this year, as we began our bible reading we talked frequently about 1 Timothy 4:16
“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
This is about working out, not working for salvation.
We are to continually make sure that what we believe and what we do aligns with what is true.
There are some common human sin patterns that undermine our ability to finish well.
We see at least three of these in the life of Hezekiah.
Fear: He felt unsafe and instead of choosing to believe the facts of faith, he let his feelings of fear direct him.
Fear is not the problem, letting fear determine actions is a problem.
It was okay for him ask God for more years when told that he would die but I wonder how it would have gone for him, and for his foolish son if he had prayed, “Father, if possible, take this cup from me, but not my will but yours be done.”
Maybe he would gotten 15 more years…but with a very heart attitude in those years.
An attitude of gratitude would have shaped his heart in a different way.
Instead, he begged and cried and said, “Look at how I have been faithful and devoted and done so much good!” 2 Kings 10:3
Congratulations, you have done exactly what you were supposed to do as a king…you want a reward for that?
Why was this man so afraid of dying…clearly his heart had not been trained to fully trust.
When death is at hand, it is too late to train…we train today, every day for what matters the most at the end.
It’s not too late to trust Christ at your deathbed…it is probably too late to train your heart to not fear death.
Many come to the end of life feeling fear, though they have trusted Christ.
This is because feelings are shaped over time through training.
I’ve said we can’t choose every feeling…that is true.
But we, over time, train in ways that shape what comes from our hearts and minds.
We are safe in death if we have trusted Christ…this fact will not impact how you feel unless you nurture it through continual training…reading, praying, practicing the truth over time.
Pride: He, like all the kings of Israel, fell victim to his own success.
God makes us successful; pride then makes us stupid.
The right response to the favor of the Lord is gratitude and humility.
“What do you have that you did not receive, and if you did receive it why do you boast as if you did not? 1 Corinthians 4:7
Passivity
We can just be lulled to sleep by the passing of days and not be ready for the day that tests us.
He wasn’t prepared for the threat of death, or the Babylon flattery.
He was susceptible to both fear and vanity…because he had not guarded his heart well.
We have to, every day, rouse ourselves and turn our hearts and minds back to God.
2. We must repent until the end.
What makes Hezekiah, like David, a good king in the end is not his sinless perfection but his repentant direction.
He repented; he continually turned back to God…and he led the people that way.
According to Catholic doctrine: In their words:
When a faithful Catholic faces imminent risk of dying or is on the verge of death, the Last Rites can be administered to offer them a final chance to be absolved of their sins in preparation for entering heaven, to denounce their sinful ways, and face their individual judgment to avoid hell.
As a military chaplain, I was sometimes called, Padre, by catholic service members.
It means “Father”…I am, of course not a priest…but it was a term of endearment, so I didn’t correct them.
However, I was not able or willing to administer last rites to the dying…I don’t believe in them.
What I would do and what I did do on occasion for the dying was to share the gospel.
I offered the hope of eternal life in Christ through faith.
You do not need “last rites” if you have trusted Christ.
You need not worry that you might die without having repented of every single sin.
You cannot die other than in a state of grace if your faith is in him.
If you are born again, all sins are forgiven, covered…even future sins.
Why repent then?
Initial repentance is a one-time act of turning to Christ for salvation.
It is what brings relationship with God
Ongoing repentance is a lifetime of turning away from sin back to God.
it is what enables ongoing fellowship with God.
Wedding: The first “I do”…is when a covenant relationship is inaugurated, officially begins.
Marriage: The hundreds of “I still do” (which shows up often as…I’m sorry) are where ongoing restoration of fellowship continually happens.
We repent and are saved…then we continually repent for the restoration of fellowship.
Which brings us to the final and most important thing to see from King Hezekiah.
3. Hezekiah was a pretty good king…Jesus is the good and perfect king
The Bible has credibility in that it doesn’t gloss its heroes.
There is a type of ancient writing that was common in the middle ages called hagiography.
(hahgee ah graphy)
From the Greek words for holy and writings.
These books would turn people larger than life hero humans.
In fact, the Catholic principle of Sainthood, a non-biblical idea does just that.
In Scripture all Christians are “Saints”…they are holy people.
Holy means “set apart for God”
By the way, lest you think I am picking on catholicism…I have very close friends who are Catholic.
I disagree with much of what they believe…but we are close non the less.
As I have said before, you do not have to have complete agreement to have close friendship with others.
I don’t go to church with these friends…but we often go to lunch together.
Back to my point…There are no people who are special in a sense of being worthy of such devotion and veneration.
There is a controversy surrounding the Dali Lama, who is believed by Tibetan Buddhists to be an incarnation of the divine.
The controversy surrounds who will decide who will succeed him when he is reincarnated into another person…who is going to say…Oh, there’s the Dali Lama.
The Chinese communist government claims that right, since Tibet is inside its borders…never mind that they are an atheist state.
The exiled Dali Lama assures us that his reincarnation will not come from China.
It is all tragically silly.
The Dali Lama, the Pope, named saints and every other human except one…are just that…human.
In scripture, all the characters except one, are shown to be sinful.
That one, of course is the Lord Jesus.
He is shown in completely honest light…there is no gloss, no painting over his failing…no hagiography.
He was sinless and perfect…he is he only one the Bible presents this way…because he is the only one who is this.
We want to finish well…to finish well means to trust Christ alone to the very end.
God is all for us finishing well…it remains for us to be fully for it.
To finish well we must not chase safety as the world does.
We are safe when we seek to be faithful…to be found faithful is to be eternally safe.
But faithfulness to Christ can be a dangerous thing.
You may lose friends, maybe family, money, prestige…maybe you will be called to lose your life physically.
But certainly, you will be called to lay down your life in obedience to whatever Christ calls you too.
Jesus will ask you to die to pride, to self-seeking, to your own insecurities, to the demand to be understood and appreciated…the demand that others make you feel safe.
All this is very difficult for me…What Christ calls me to sometimes hasn’t felt safe.
This is difficult for all of us…but it what we are called to as followers of Christ….who said…
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul.
Matthew 16:24-26
When we are living inside the realm of his will for our lives…we are safe.
When we step out of that realm…we must repent and step back in.
Remember that bronze snake that the people had turned into an idol…that bronze thing, that Hezekiah destroyed?
It was discarded because it was misused…it was supposed to point to Jesus.
Jesus said that the bronze snake pointed to him, and when he was lifted up, like it was…he would bring salvation to all who believed in him.
Family, health, jobs, possessions, gifting, all these good things can become idols.
We must continually turn from the idols we have made back to the Lord Jesus whose death on the cross has saved us.
The desire for safety is built into us…but it is designed to draw us to the only safe place…relationship with God.
We are safe in an obedient relationship with God…nowhere else.
You will die, you will not take your stuff with you, no one can pass into eternity with you…it will just be you…and Christ.
If that unnerves you, then that’s not a bad thing…we need to be unnerved…better now than before the end.
We are in danger when we trust idols and self, when we fail to train to trust Christ.
But we need not feel unsafe, because we need not BE unsafe.
We come to worship so we will remember that in Christ alone we find our hope.
We worship so we will remember that in relationship with him we are safe, now and forever.
We come together to train to trust him.
It is good to feel safe, it is essential to be safe.
It is possible to be both.