2 Kings 20:1-6
In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, “Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.” Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Return and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, ‘I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.'”
Hmm, !5 more years. If I were a resident of Tennessee, that is precisely how many years I have left on my actuarial clock. Some friends ask me the other day if I was secretly holding out some bad news regarding my health. They had observed a burst of activity suggesting to them I might be hustling to set my house in order. I told them “No – I wasn’t dying”, but now that I think about it, that wasn’t quite true. I am. We are all mortally ill. Sorry to start on a morbid note. I promise it will get better.
Weird statistical trivia question: Where in the U.S. are you statistically most likely to both live the longest and get murdered?
I have been setting my house in order though – intentionally gathering important information in one place for those left behind; working with tax and legal experts so that my uncle Sam is not the beneficiary of things God entrusted to me. (I believe his stewardship is suspect at best.) While it may not be bindingly written in any trusts or wills, my prayer is that my heirs will not utilize whatever they inherit as a means to enhance their life styles. I pray instead that they will envision their inheritance as something God has entrusted to them to magnify their contributions to the kingdom of God.
No, I haven’t ask God to add any years to my life but I have asked him to help me number my days that I may present to him a heart of wisdom. Perhaps my burst of energy is being fueled some by his answer to that prayer. I suspect it is – at least in part. The other larger part has to do with God having put his house (my heart) in order and his mandate to me to diligently watch over it. That bares some explanation.
I believe we are each dwelling places of sorts, tabernacles more specifically. As a pre-Christian my house was vacant (as many who knew me would testify). When I surrendered my life to Christ and invited Jesus to be my Lord and Savior, I believe the Holy Spirit took up residence in the house, which is my heart. That is a helpful analogy for me but it doesn’t get me all the way there. Something far more dynamic than a tenant/ landlord contract had been inked up.
I believe it would be more accurate to say that, upon entering our house, a joining of his Spirit and our takes place. In other words we don’t become his children by attending to specific religious rights of passage or adhering to certain correct packages of doctrine or attending church faithfully. We become God’s children by being born again by His Spirit. Through the miraculous gift of faith his DNA literally becomes our DNA.
The original plan in Adam was good but derailed. In Christ, it is resumed. As a tiny mustard seed of life – a new kingdom-genesis begins in us fueled by nothing less than the very LIfe of God. We can say that in our essential being (our foundational makeup) we have been restored to his likeness and that we are being restored to his likeness. This is how God puts our houses in order. God’s kingdom (centered in Jesus) is now within us. That is why we can say that His kingdom has come and is coming. God is always putting his house in order.
The tenant / landlord metaphor may help convey what our watching over our hearts diligently looks like. The relationship with God started out with us as the masters of the house (however vacant they were) and we invite Christ in. In the process of living in this arrangement we eventually discover (often through much tribulation) that he is better suited to be the landlord and we the tenant. It is usually expressed; Jesus as the Master and we, his servants – “Lord you speak and I will obey.” Of course we would not want to do anything (like Jesus wouldn’t) that he did not first see the Father doing. (some sarcasm. I will explain.)
This can be an impressive form of spirituality. “God speaks. I obey. That settles that. It’s simple.” It does tend to quench conversations though. You might ask them, what they think about this or that and they say (or imply), “I don’t think. I know. Remember? God speaks, I obey, That settled the matter.” And everyone else (jaws agape) totally agree with them; “You’re right. You don’t think. Have a nice (lonely) life. (no sarcasm – just some real sadness).
This type of spirituality overlooks the fact that Christ is our life and that he is doing an inside out job on us. He is transforming us into the image of his Son and the work is underway. (Note; It does progress better when we know the process and can cooperate with it) He asks us to renew our minds and be transformed. He wants us to not only listen for that “word” spoken in the moment but to also come and reason with him, reason with each other. He wants his children to grow beyond servanthood into communities (implying communication) of sons and daughters who are living from their inexhaustible inheritance in Christ – which is nothing more or less than Christ in us. Christ is our Life. This is the basis for our hope of glory.
The take away from Hezekiah’s life is that when we realize we are in fact mortally ill, we should by all means pray but more importantly we need to keep in mind that God’s Life is now within us (if in fact we are born again); therefore his kingdom is within us. His kingdom having come should cause us to see every moment of our remaining days as sacred portions of time entrusted to us for the sake of a realm without time – the kingdom of God.
Father, may we pray out our tears of bitterness. May we find the current expression of your Life coursing within our hearts. Put our houses in order, whatever the cost, that we may both daily and ultimately present to you hearts of triumphant wisdom. Deliver us from the hands of the enemy and help us defend (in your strength) our hearts (your home) for the sake of our community and your kingdom. Amen.
Oh yes, if you want the security of a long life and feel that you will not be murdered, by all means move to……. (drum roll please)…….Washington, DC. Go figure. Better health care?