Is God Punishing Us?
My wife has been reading about King Hezekiah in these last few days. His story is encouraging to me. So I want to share some of it with you today.
Hezekiah, a king of Judah, within his first year of reign fixed up the Temple of God and consecrated the priests to do service as the Law of Moses prescribed. This had not been done for a while, as wicked kings before him had turned there back to God and His law. After all of this had been done, he called all Israel together so that they could celebrate the Passover. What a sight that must have been after many years of separation! Hezekiah did “what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God” (2 Chronicles 31:20).
And then it happened. Assyria, a nation north of Judah came to invade them. Why did this happen? What had they done to deserve this? According to the text, nothing! They had done what the Lord God had told them to do and yet they still found themselves in a difficult situation.
I don’t know why exactly we are facing this pandemic right now. I am very hesitant to speak definitively on why we are in this situation. For I see in the Scriptures times where people suffered because of their own sin (Genesis 4:13) and times where they suffered because of the sin of others (Genesis 4:8). I have read of instances where God has clearly punished people for sin (Lamentations 2:2) and times when suffering has come to those God has called blameless (Job 1).
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God” (Deuteronomy 29:29). I do not sit in the seat of God, and am grateful for that today. We are not asked to figure this out and we won’t always know the answer to our questions. We are, however, called to do as the rest of the above quoted verse says: “but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” What is clear to me from God’s word is that we are to turn to the Lord. As we do this, we confess any sin that God reveals in our hearts, whether it is the cause of our suffering or not. Remember that blameless Job, after interacting with God, still repents (Job 42:6). Remember Jesus’ warn to those who watched other people suffer. He told those individuals not to think that those who suffer are more sinful than they are, but to repent so that they don’t share their fate (Luke 13:1-5). As Luther said in the first of his 95 Theses, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent,” he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” Turn to the Lord in humility.
As we turn, we also cry out just like Hezekiah did. “Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven” (2 Chronicles 32:20). Direct your hearts to God today. Lift up holy hands in prayer. Open your mouths and ask God to act on our behalf. Because we have this assurance: “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in stead fast love” (Psalm 103:8). Jesus Christ made this clear as He came to us in order that He might take our punishment in death, so that we could receive the blessing of eternal life from our holy, holy, holy God. Take heart friend. Our God is good, raise your eyes to Him.
God responded to the prayer of Hezekiah. He prayed it in faith. He stood on the firm foundation of God’s goodness. He declared to his people “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.”
The Lord give us this confidence today!