Christian Living: Not A Life Without Challenges - Even When We Are Faithful

Lessons From Life Of King Hezekiah

The Psalms, Proverbs and many passages of the Bible tells us that when we are faithful, we will be blessed and we will be prosperous. This gives us a general impression that a Faithful Christian's life is a life without problems and challenges.

Take for instance the passage below as I examined the life of Hezekiah:
2 Chron 31:21 In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.

But the verse immediately after this tells us a different story. Our theology is challenged.

2 Chron 32:1 After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah.

In fact, Hezekiah will feel very troubled even though Prov 10:22 tells him otherwise:
Proverbs 10:22: The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.

Not only did Hezekiah suffer
1. Invasion from Assyria, he also suffered
2. Illness to the point of death.

Details of these incidents can be found in 2 Kings 18-20 and also 2 Chron 29-32 as well as Isaiah 36-39. Interesting to cross-reference and to read inter-textually. So when we suffer, and we sometimes wonder whether we are faithful - rest assured that even when we are faithful, we too may suffer.
Remember 2 Chron 32:1 - even after all that Hezekiah had so FAITHFULLY done, he suffered invasion and illness.

But the story does not end there.
The Sufferings turned to victory as Hezekiah turned to the Lord and prayed.
Hezekiah was delivered by our supernatural God in two ways:
1. Supernaturally from the Invasion as the angel of the Lord wiped out 158,000 Assyrian soldiers (2 Kgs 19:38), and
2. Naturally from the Illness as Isaiah instructed King Hezekiah to take a "poultice of figs" (2 Kgs 20:7).

May you be blessed with assurance to know that:
1. We may suffer even when we are faithful. Suffering does not mean we are not faithful.
2. God can supernaturally deliver us - in supernatural and natural ways.