2 Kings 18-19

Hello, I hope things are well in America.  This will be the last blog from France.  The passage in 2 Kings 18-19 chronicles the time of Hezekiah, a king who fears The Lord, as he is faced with the potential to be conquered by Assyria in an effort to lead the city to repentance.  This event may seem irrelevant or doesn't to connect to you, but it does.  It connects to people in the US, Marsailles, and the rest of the world.  

There is war going on.  A war for the hearts and alligences of the people.  Any time that there is work that is leading to genuine repentance to The Lord, there is always opposition.  Whether the inticement of great reward, a great cost, or physical threat; repentance to the one true God is always met with opposition.  Hezekiah was leading Israel away from the mutual gods of the Assyrians that allowed allegiance and control over Israel and that led to the potential of war against a greater force of 185,000 coming upon the city.  The opposition came after the actions of Hezekiah.

So, what does the king of Assyria do to intice the people of Israel to pledge allegiance to Assyria and to the gods of Assyria?  He says to them that they would receive their own vine, their own fig, their own land, and I will take away your land now and redistribute it back to you.  While he feeds them the lie that of "when as the God of Hezekiah ever won for you".  Analysis of this inticement from the Assyrian king is very similar or the inticement given to Adam and Eve.  "God says, do not eat this fruit? Yeah, because you will be like god and you know what he knows."  The king of Assyria offers the same challenge by saying "what has the God of Hezekiah ever done for you".  There is an opposition for the hearts of the people.

This truth is applicable hear in Marsailles.  We have met a man named Stefone, who has been here for 20+ years working to share the truth of the one true God with Algerian Muslims as he lives among.  He tells us that there is little to offer.  "People are flocking to Islam.  Young people.  Young people by them thousands.   They are inticed by new technology, new and functioning activity centers for people, and the most evident thing is that they feel accepted into something bigger in a place where feel alienated."  

This is the opposition. This is the fight against the truth of God vs. the lies of opposition.  We can run away, act like it doesn't exist, and simply just give into it.  Hezekiah ran to The Lord and was given the truth of what would happen even in the midst of great fear.   We must do the same.  Whether the opposition is mockery, theft, hatred, and potentially our lives, we must run to The Lord because he is good, he is wise, and he will do what brings him glory.  All of this with the fact that he loves his children like his own Son, because he ultimately won victory.  Please, run to The Lord and keep fighting.