Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Does God Change His Mind?

I am still trying to read the Bible through again and I am in 2 Kings now. People ask me all the time, “How do you have time to read your Bible?” A very wise women told me in seminary and I believe she is right, “You have time for what you want to have time for.” I always think about this passage when I start thinking like a Calvinist (j/k) in that God has already decided what is going to happen, so why should I pray? Read this, this will rock your world if you have not read this glorious passage of Scripture before.

2 Kings 20

Hezekiah's Illness

In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, "This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover."

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, "Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.' "

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just to defend good ole Calvinists(haha), I am quite sure that the Lord knew that Hezekiah would petition to Him to spare his life way before Hezekiah even thought to do so. But either way, God is so great for hearing the cry of His people!
On another note, Jackson is getting so big! We will definitely have to get the boys together sometime soon!
Oh yeah, Asher has what Jackson had last week...yuck!

Emily Wallace said...

Alyssa,

Just so you know Charlie and I are probably 4-ptrs so we are more alike then different.

I agree that the Lord had foreknowledge of the situation, however, my point was that God does hear our prayers and answers them so that our faith may be increased and for His namesake.

It seems that Hezekiah believed that God could change His mind because of his prayer. We all know the whole situation is more complex then what we've read. I think the point of the passage is that even though God has foreknowledge of everything that will ever happen, in our point of view, He can still change things...even if on His end nothing really changes.

I hate that for Asher! We'll be praying for him.

Give us a call the next time you come to Sumter.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree! :)