Do what is right in the Eyes of the Lord
- Elizabeth Lunyou
- Feb 22, 2017
- 3 min read
(Click on the underlines words for connected references)
Continuing the thought from the last blog post , King Hezekiah was a good king. The Bible says there was no king like him after his reign. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord; he trusted in the Lord and held fast to Him; he did not depart from following Him, and kept the commandments of Moses; the Lord was with Him and wherever He went out He prospered.
In several passages in the Old Testament there is an expression “everyone did what was right in his own eyes…” when this is used it is not a commendation, but a statement of how bad the situation had gotten away from God. (Deuteronomy 12:8, Judges 21:25) King Hezekiah was living the right way, not following his own heart, but doing what was right in God's eyes.
Jesus said, if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. To obey God…to do what is right in God’s eyes is a pathway of righteousness, love and blessing. However, how many people say today, do what is right in God’s eyes? The more common expression is “do what seems right to you,” or “follow your heart,” or “trust your conscious to be your guide.”
If you are a Christian, you have received Jesus as your Savior, trusting God to forgive your sins, receiving that gift of eternal life by grace through faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. We start with that gift of faith that comes from hearing the truth of God’s Word…that leads to salvation, but many believers are not going past that basic faith.
In 2 Peter 1:5-8 we are admonished to add to our faith a progressive list, the first of which is virtue or goodness. The first thing we see about King Hezekiah was he did what was right in God’s eyes. That goodness then led to trusting the Lord and holding fast to the Lord from which he did not depart….continuing to faithfully obey. 2 Peter tells us we add to our faith, virtue then knowledge, then self-control then steadfastness etc...if you want to be able to hold onto God and faithfully live for him like Hezekiah, then we must be willing to put on this mind of Christ, and must accept the discipline of the Lord and run the race of godliness.
Are you frustrated with sin overtaking you and do you also have a lack of motivation or endurance to study the Bible faithfully? It is time to realize the simplest step of spiritual discipline, reading God's Word, is the first step in adding to our faith and walking toward victory. As you choose to do what is right in God's eyes (goodness) and you study God's Word (knowledge) then you are already on your path of adding to your faith and walking in maturity.
I pray that like Hezekiah, we can each surrender to live doing what is right in God’s eyes rather than our own, and seeing our spiritual life growing from faith to a deeper, godly, loving life with Christ. If you want that, and you have put your faith in Jesus...then it is time to add to that faith and walk the pathway of righteousness that He leads us on, for His names sake..
If you have any thoughts of questions you would like to share...or prayer requests, then head over to the conversation cafe
We will continue this study on how to add to our faith in the next devotional.
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