Are you feeling lost and broken?  Does your heart hurt?  Do you sometimes feel like you hold your values and standards so high that you feel alone in the world?  It’s a difficult place to be in – a place where you feel like it’s “you against the world.”

In 2 Kings 18:1-8; 15-34, a new king named Hezekiah began to reign over Jerusalem at the age of 25.  “He did what was right in the sight f the Lord just as ancestor David had done” (v.3).  This caught my eye as I read this text this morning because do you know how difficult that is in a world of messed-up views, standards, and expectations?  The Jews continually went against the Lord by worshipping idols.  Hezekiah even went as far as breaking down the bronze serpent that Moses had made because the people made offerings to it instead of to God (v.4).  In my book, that took guts!  I wonder if Hezekiah felt like it was him against the world?  I wonder if his heart was broken as he watched the people sin against God?

It’s hard to live in the way of the Lord.  Isn’t it just easier to give in – “If you can’t beat them, join them?”  Hezekiah did not though – “For he held fast to the Lord…he did not depart from following Him but kept the commandments…The Lord was with him wherever he went…And, Hezekiah prospered” (vv. 6-7).  So, there is a payoff for sticking to your values and the way of the Lord.  You will prosper!  I don’t know if it will be here on earth – but I do know that in the end the reward is great – that is our Eternal life.

Do you feel lost and broken?  Does your heart hurt?  Do you sometimes feel like you hold your values and standards so high that you feel alone in the world?  Because I do!  Hold fast to the Lord and do not depart from following Him.  The Lord is with you wherever you go!  And, you will prosper!