Coffee With The Lord

There’s just something special about the place a person calls “home!” It’s not simply a location thing – it’s a heart thing – all kinds of nostalgia and memories are associated with it! I live in North Texas but deep within I’m still a “Montana boy!” In fact, as weird as it may seem, I’ve been known to stop as I crossed the border into Montana as I returned home, and kiss the ground. You probably feel a lot like that about somewhere you call “home.”

Well, as incredible as it may seem, as a Christian, there is a place I call “home” that I’ve never been to before… and one of these days I’m going take the “long journey” there. It will be a one way trip… I’m never leaving to come back! I’ve got a lot of family and friends already there. (When I walk through to gates to that place prepared for me and all those who love the Lord, I plan to stop and kiss the “ground” … whatever the “ground” is!)

Here’s what the Bible says about it (just read it this morning)…

“These all died in faith [speaking of those who were people of faith], not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth! For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a HOMELAND! If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. BUT AS IT IS, THEY DESIRE A BETTER COUNTRY, THAT IS, A HEAVENLY ONE. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city!” (Hebrews 11:13–16 ESV)

Jesus put it this way just before he left…

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms… I go to prepare a place for you…and if I go I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also!” (John 14:1–3 ESV)

Gotta tell you… my heart says that place is “home!”

When it comes to politics we complain about “the present administration” and our frame of reference is four years… at the most eight.  When we disagree with policies that frustrate us and practices that offend us we wonder if it will ever end, and if all the good that has been done in the past will come unraveled.  Our complaints and conversations sometimes reflect a hopelessness that is unbecoming to Christians who claim to have a theology of hope…

But how’d you like to have a corrupt and evil leader without moral scruples of any kind for FIFTY-FIVE YEARS?!  I read about one this morning in my Bible reading…

“Manasseh… reigned FIFTY-FIVE YEARS in Jerusalem… He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.  He rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroy… He built altars in the house of the Lord…for all the host of heaven… He burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers… The carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, ‘In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel I will put my name forever.’ … Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another.” (From 2 Kings 21:1-18)

How would you have liked to be a citizen of Judah during that guy’s administration?  Hopeless eh?

The Bible goes on to tell us the rest of the story…

“The LORD brought upon Judah the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.  And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.  He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God… And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city.  He also restored the altar of the LORD and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel.” (2 Chronicles 33:10–21 ESV)

Incredible eh?  And we think we’ve got it bad!  Hey, there’s always hope … hope for our nation!  Hope for even bad leaders!!  What should we do?  Pray… pray fervently!!  (2 Chronicles 7:14 comes to mind … look it up) … Let’s do it!

You’re responsible for the welfare of others and things are not going right! It’s critical… there is a crisis… you don’t know what to do or where to turn! You’re scared to death about what will happen to your family, your business, or the organization you lead…

Or it may be a personal thing… You got a frightening report from the doctor, you’re in terrible danger, you just lost your job, she (or he) left you… you may be even staring death in the face. What should you do? What can you do?

Well, I’m not in your boots right now, but I think I’d do what King Hezekiah did in the Bible… (I just read it again this morning)

He prayed! If you’re a parent and concerned about what your family is facing… or the leader of an organization or business that is facing a crisis… Do this…

“Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord… and he prayed! … So now, O Lord our God save us, please so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, O Lord, are God alone!” (2 Kings 19:14-19)

And God heard! He sent his prophet with a message that God would supernaturally protect and deliver His people!

But what if it’s personal… It’s you alone that is facing a crisis?

Again, King Hezekiah in that kind of situation prayed!

“In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’ Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD… And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: ‘Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD, and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.”
(2 Kings 20:1–6 ESV)

I don’t know what you may be facing personally … or your family may be facing … or the organization you lead may be facing… it may be terrifying, but I encourage you to pray! That’s right… pray!