Faithful Preparation

Hezekiah's Tunnel in Jerusalem

OT: 2 Chronicles 31-32
NT: Acts 6:1-6

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2 Chronicles 32:1-5 — After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself. When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to make war on Jerusalem, he consulted with his officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the springs outside the city, and they helped him. A large force of men assembled, and they blocked all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?” they said. Then he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it. He built another wall outside that one and reinforced the supporting terraces of the City of David. He also made large numbers of weapons and shields.

It's easy to preach faith and lose logistics in churches today. We fail to realize that part of the faith response to God's sovereignty is to use the knowledge and wisdom He has given us to act. God is in charge of all things, no doubt, but that does not mean we do not have a part to play in executing His will on earth. In other words, we have brains so why don't we use them to glorify God? I was in a church once where the response to "What shall we do?" about a situation was, " Pray and then wait for the Holy Spirit to blow us in the right direction." Now, I have nothing against praying over a tough decision, but God calls us to be men and women of action. How can we test the water when we refuse to put our foot in it? We need to become more like the men of old, who by faith acted in seeking the will of God and the defense of his reputation.

Can you imagine what would have happened if Jehoida the priest decided to pray and wait instead of rescuing King Joash from his wicked grandmother? Or if Joash sat on the book of the Law instead of immediately turning his nation back towards obeying its tenants? Hezekiah is another man of faith who took action. When Sennacharib, King of Assyria, came to lay seige to Jerusalem, Hezekiah had a plan and he followed it. He shut off the city's water supply -- the Gihon spring -- from the invading army and built a tunnel from the spring into the city. The tunnel still exists to this day, as does record of Sennacherib's failure to capture Jerusalem. And Hezekiah's plan worked because he was a man of faith who stepped up to take action. He prayed, to be sure, but that was not all he did. He tested the water. And the Lord rewarded him.

Be God's.