Little do you know that this is the second attempt at posting this blog. I don't know if that means God is wanting me to refine my comments or the enemy is working in my software, but here I go again. I know I have lapsed in my usual consistent blogging, but as many of you know I was away for 12 days and vacation causes work to pile up, so I am just now getting my nose above water. I believe that this week I am going to wrap up our current series on SATURATION and I sense the leading of the Lord to begin something along the same lines called, EMBRACE THE GRACE: Really Understanding God's favor. The reason I sense this probably has to do with several things I observe at large. I am noticing more and more pastors preaching on the subject of God's grace, especially from the perspective of some new books that are out there in the marketplace. Nothing wrong with that, but I am hearing some things about favor and grace that may need some tweaking from the Scriptures, lest we are led to some wrong and potentially damaging conclusions. I have also been reading about Hezekiah, the reformer king of Judah, who had a tremendous impact through God's grace and favor to restore the southern kingdom back to it's intended state in the will of God (see 2 Chronicles 29-32). As you might recall, Hezekiah grew up in the worst of households, yet was able to overcome that environment and be a nation changer. We need Hezekiah's today who will overcome their culture and determine to be used of God for nation changing exploits.

Having said that, I noticed that Hezekiah was not without his issues as well. Despite all the wonderful things that can be said about him we find toward the end of his reign a verse that caused me to pause and reflect:

But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him, for his heart was lifted up; therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem.  2 Chronicles 32:25

Despite having been used for national revival, we now find Hezekiah grieving God. How could this be? What in the world happened to him? The next verse tells us...'the pride of his heart". Hezekiah had enjoyed the favor and grace for so long that he became presumptuous in it and started to believe his own press. He began to think that all the good things that had taken place were really due to him. I am sure he had numerous people and many voices telling him that he was incredibly successful and the nation was lucky to have him as a ruler. The greatest battle Hezekiah faced was not with the people, or with his enemies, but rather with himself. And unfortunately, that was the battle he lost.

I started to think of how often that scenario repeats itself in the lives of God's people. A leader, or for that matter the average person, responds to God's call to follow Him and do His will. The person knows in the beginning that they have little to offer the Lord, but the Lord uses them greatly anyway. His favor and grace cause them to arise and do something extraordinary. At first, things usually stay pure, but slowly something happens. For Hezekiah it shows up when the Babylonian envoys show up and want a tour of all the marvelous things he has done (32:31). Hezekiah, apparently, takes a little too much of the credit for all the achievements and the size of his armory. The Scripture tells us that God used this moment to "test" what was in Hezekiah's heart. What God found was a lot of pride.

I believe in favor and grace. They are found in the Bible and of course, I believe the Bible. However, I am beginning to understand even more clearly that as much as I need these two things they can also become a snare to me if I do not keep my heart right. That's what happens to many people whom God promotes with finances, homes, position, and visibility. He gives them influence for Kingdom purpose, but somewhere along the way they lose sight of that and it becomes all about them and what they have created. The favor God wanted them to enjoy for His purposes has become the snare for their humiliation. I have seen this happen in humble pastors whom God has raised up to national prominence, only to be embarrassed by national scandal as they presumed upon His grace. I have seen it happen in poor and homeless people who through obedience to God's Word and hard work have pulled themselves out of their poverty to enjoy great wealth, only to see their life crash because they could not handle the success that favor brought them. I always remember R.T. Kendall's famous line that said, "The worst thing that can happen to a man is to succeed before he is ready". That is called the snare of favor.

How is the snare dealt with?

Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah. (32:26)

God will always resist the proud, but He will give His grace to the humble (James 4:6). The greatest threat to a true moving of God's Spirit with the accompanying favor and grace is when we get full of ourselves and refuse to stay humble. Our greatest enemy is really our own heart. For many people, we have become like Saul who despite starting out humble ended his life by building monuments to himself. The Bible tells us that if we will humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that He in turn would exalt in due season (I Peter 5:6). I want to exhort all the readers out in cyberspace to remember to stay humble and avoid the snare. Better to remain humble than experience humiliation.  

Still Planting a Cross
Pastor