2 Chronicles 32:31 "God test Us" on this week's Word of Grace Devotion with Pastor Joe Marquez

8/15/2017

The Word of Grace Devotion for the week of August 15 2017
God Tests Us
2 Chronicles 32:31- “And so in the matter of the envoys of the princes of Babylon, who had been sent to him to inquire about the sign that had been done in the land, God left him to himself, in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart.”
Beloved, as we read about King Hezekiah, we began to understand that we are not the first person who has ever felt alone in the world. And this was after Hezekiah had a great encounter with the miracle-making God. It went like this.
One day Hezekiah wakes up from a nap and isn’t feeling well. His buddy Isaiah, a local prophet, tells him to get his affairs in order for he was going to die. King Hezekiah cries out to God and God sends Isaiah back to the King with good news: he is going to live!
When you read the story in 2 Kings 20, you see God promised He would heal Hezekiah of a life-threatening disease and proved it by making the shadow go back ten steps on the stairway. This is very cool stuff.
Word of this miraculous series of events draws international attention and foreign ambassadors come to pay their respects and see how the king’s doing. Now God, knowing Hezekiah had a tendency to become proud (2 Chronicles 32:25), decided to test the king. He withdraws His presence to see if he’s going to tell the ambassadors about God’s goodness and loving-kindness, or if Hezekiah is going to show them all his accomplishments as a king. Unfortunately, Hezekiah failed the test by showing his visitors everything in his storehouses (2 Kings 20:13).
Beloved, the reason that God tests us is not so that He would know our hearts because He already knows our heart. No, the reason he tests us is so that we would know our heart; hence the Lord will leave us to ourselves to reveal our heart. Why? Because pride hides a sick heart and Jesus being the Great Physician desires to cure our sick heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
Beloved, King Hezekiah failed the test. My prayer is that when God reveals our prideful sick heart to ourselves that we will pass the test.
I pray that you will have a blessed week. I love you and I will be praying for you.

In His Grace,
Pastor Joe

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Senior Pastor
Joe Marquez

Beloved, we are soon to once again celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the human Son of man and the divine Son of God. He is one hundred percent human and one hundred percent God.

While there were many people instrumental in the birth of Christ, this morning we will look at His birth through the eyes of Joseph, His legal father. There is not too much known about the man who would care for Christ as He grew up. We know that Joseph was possibly a carpenter but most importantly we know that he was a righteous man who did the right thing.

When others would have ran away from a responsibility that was not even their own, Joseph stood steadfast and remained faithful to the end. We can learn much from his character and apply his attributes of faithfulness, purity, and perseverance to our own lives.

May you have a Blessed Christmas week and may Christ always be at the center of your lives!

P.S. Come back this evening as we look at the birth of Christ through the Gospel of Luke!