Hezekiah: True Worship & the Spirit of Mockery, Part 1

Do we welcome the true spiritual worship that
God ordains, or is a spirit of mockery at
work amongst us?

[2 Chronicles 30: 1-27]

Hezekiah was a good king of Israel
who reigned after his father, Ahaz,
who "did not that which was right
in the sight of the Lord."

Because of Israel's idolatry and
backsliding, the Passover had not been
correctly observed in some time.
Hezekiah sent out a decree asking
the remnant of Israel to return to
the Lord. The sad comment of Scripture
tells us this: "but they laughed [the
decrees]to scorn and mocked them" (vs. 10).


Some of the tribes of Asher,
Manassas and Zebulun did come to
Jerusalem to celebrate, but the ways
of God had been so long forgotten that
they did not know how to worship
properly and Hezekiah had to
ask the Lord's pardon for those
who came to God with a willing heart
to worship but did not know how.

Although this story ends well, it is
a sad reflection about how easily
we stray from the Lord, and how
quickly we forget the ways of God.
It is a story that parallels much in
our present day communities, both
outside the church, but also,
sadly, within it.

In the years preceding Hezekiah's
reign "new spirituality" was "in."
Worship of any god but the Lord was
the rule and not the exception.
True worship was out-of-vogue.
A spirit of mockery toward the
things of God had set in. So when
Hezekiah implored people to return
to the Lord and His ways, he was met
with outright laughter: a spirit of
mockery, scorn and derision.

Increasingly, there seems to be a
spirit of mockery toward the things
of God and toward true worship.
What do you laugh at? It will tell
you alot about yourself. There is
a spirit that plots and purposes
to demean the true ways of God.

The spirit of mockery leaves no room
for repentance for it finds the
ways of God, and God Himself, to be
of no value--something to be laughed
at.

It sets itself up as the new and
better model: the "relevant" way
to worship, but really the it
causes us to worship ourselves: our
minds, our ideas, our preferences.
It is lauded as the faith of the
"movers and shakers" and the
"up-and-comers."

Mockery does not tell you that
it will indeed leave you moved out
of God's Presence, and shaken to
the very core. It does not warn you
that it takes "up and comers" and
makes them "down and outers."

The spirit of mockery is still
hard at work laughing at the things
of God: belittling His ways, His
character, His servants, His people.

It leaves such a wake of spiritual
poverty and ignorance that soon even
the people that want to seek the Lord
do not know how to seek Him, for it
corrodes all inclination of the heart
toward its Maker.

Romans 1 tells us that even in our
sinful condition, something of God
can be known, if we care to look.
But something awful happens when we
don't care to look and deliberately
turn our hearts away from God.
We are spun around in confusion until
we do not know which way points to
the true and living God.

The world is dangerously lost, but
what of the church?

Is the true and living God being
presented in revealed, biblical
truth? Do we yawn at what the
bible says or are we doers of
the Word?

Is the power of the Holy Spirit
accompanying the preaching of
the gospel? Or do we quench the
genuine works of the Holy Spirit
as being unnecessary, controversial,
or a stumbling block to modern
sensibilities or doctrine?

Are the fruits of the Spirit,
the fruits of genuine repentance,
manifest in the lives of those
who profess Christ? Or do we
wink at sin?

Are we serving a god of our own
design or the Living God?

Do our hearts burn within us for
holiness or has a spirit of
mockery at the ways and things
of God taken over, even in subtle
ways?

My list, sadly, is just getting
started. Thank God that Hezekiah
stood up to call people back to
God and to intercede for the
spiritual ignorance of those
who wanted to go deeper with
the Lord but did not know how.

May we have the heart of Hezekiah
to call out for true worship,
despite the spirit of mockery that
abounds. May we have the heart
of Hezekiah to intercede for the
spiritual ignorance and complacency
that abounds in these troubled days.

Listen to what goes on around you.
What is being laughed at? Sometimes
blatantly, sometimes covertly, sometimes
with a spirit of snobbery, sometimes
with a spirit of self-righteousness
or contempt. What are YOU laughing
at?

Our Lord deserves our worship in
Spirit and in Truth. May the flaming
Sword of the Lord, even the living
Word of God, make us into spiritual
men and women who will not settle
for anything less than Christ reigning
supremely and exclusively, without
compromise, in our hearts.



This is the first of three posts.

abandonment to God
true worship
apostasy
Hezekiah
spiritual ignorance
the Christian walk
spiritual testing