By Staff
God uses people. When Israel was in cruel bondage in Egypt, the people cried out to God (Exodus 3:7). He heard their cry and raised up Moses to deliver them. Moses led the people out of Egypt. When it was time for Israel to take the land of Canaan, God raised up Joshua to lead the conquest (Joshua 1:1-7). Time after time when God's people were in distress, and they cried out to God, He raised up a deliverer.
There is a particular king mentioned in the Old Testament book of 2 Kings, chapter 13. The king was Jehoahaz. He was king of the ten northern tribes in Israel. Jehoahaz was not a righteous person. He did all kinds of things to anger God (2 Kings 13:2). God in His anger brought other nations against Israel. Some cities of Israel were captured, and the rest of the nation was plundered by raiders and high taxes. The people were living in fear and poverty because of the great oppression.
In 2 Kings 13:4 we read, "Jehoahaz pleaded with the LORD and the LORD listened to him." We do not know all that King Jehoahaz did in repentance other than to acknowledge the Lord as God and plead with Him for deliverance, but God listened. One of the most encouraging things in life is to know that God heard you.
God listened and gave Israel a deliverer (2 Kings 13:5). We do not even know who it was, but we know that Israel escaped from the oppression of the Syrians and had peace in their land again (2 Kings 13:5).
In the Old Testament God dealt with His people as a nation. They had armies and prospered or suffered based on how they interacted with God. When they followed God, He blessed them. When they went their own way and forgot God, He judged them.
Things changed when Jesus Christ came. Jesus is "Deliverer" but not as the people of His time hoped. They wanted freedom from the tyranny of Rome. Jesus gave them freedom from the tyranny of sin, death, and the grave (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). Through Jesus Christ we can be in the darkest dungeon locked away forever, and still have hope and joy that God loves us and will one day deliver us, even if through physical death.
Jesus is the hope of the world. He is the deliverer. But that is not to say that God does not still raise up people to change the course of nations and history.
Martin Luther stood against an apostate church and was the means of thousands coming to Christ through the gospel. John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and others were raised up by God to turn the hearts of men back to God through sweeping revivals.
If we are objective, we have to admit that we are not too far from the conditions that King Jehoahaz experienced. There is a political quagmire. We do not have any foreign nations looming large against us, but we have ambitious, misdirected people from within who seek to further enslave us to godless philosophy, loot our freedoms, and raid our pocketbooks.
Jehoahaz pleaded with God. God listened and sent a deliverer.
The answer for us will not be found in the political process. The deliverer we seek will likely not be a new president elected by the people. The deliverer we need is one who will call God's people back to a full and uncompromising dependence on the Living God of Heaven.
In 2 Kings 13:5 after the deliverer came and did his work, it states that "the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before."
Their lives returned to a more desirable state. It could be said these people experienced revival. That is what we need. Every time God raised up a deliverer, the conditions of life were improved. We need a deliverer!
The Rev. Dan Puckett is a minister with Life Action Ministries.