Living and Leading by F.A.I.T.H.

The Bible provides plenty of examples of how to live and lead—and how not to. The correct way, the way that guarantees the blessing and invites the protection of Almighty God, is actually quite simple. It just requires from you an all-out commitment to F.A.I.T.H. What is that? Forsaking All, I Trust Him. When you throw in with God like that, fully and radically, God will fully and radically take care of you!

Going Deep // Focus: 2 Kings 16:5-9

Then King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel came up to attack Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. At that time the king of Edom recovered the town of Elath for Edom. He drove out the people of Judah and sent Edomites to live there, as they do to this day. King Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria with this message: “I am your servant and your vassal. Come up and rescue me from the attacking armies of Aram and Israel.” Then Ahaz took the silver and gold from the Temple of the Lord and the palace treasury and sent it as a payment to the Assyrian king. So the king of Assyria attacked the Aramean capital of Damascus and led its population away as captives, resettling them in Kir. He also killed King Rezin.

They say that God has no grandchildren. That is why every new generation must discover God for itself. The children of the God-fearing cannot rest on the faith laurels of their parents, they must tread their own path of trust. The “God of my fathers” must translate, both in life and in belief, into “my Lord and my God.” That didn’t happen with King Ahaz of Judah.

Ahaz had a godly heritage: his grandfather Uzziah generally pleased the Lord during his fifty-two-year reign. His father Jotham, who co-reigned with Uzziah, reigned for sixteen years over Judah, and he too, lived a God-pleasing life. When he died at a relatively early age, his son, Ahaz, assumed the throne. He was twenty-years-old when he became king, and like his father, he reigned for sixteen years. But unlike his father, he did not follow in Jotham’s faith heritage; he didn’t please the Lord. In fact, he went in the opposite direction. He emulated the evil ways of the kings of Israel to the north, worshiping false gods and even sacrificing one of his sons as a burnt offering to his god. (2 Kings 16:3)

Forfeiting God’s favor and protection, Ahaz and Judah came under the invasion of Israel and Syria. These northern enemies attacked Judah and laid siege to Jerusalem. As the situation worsened for Ahaz, instead of reaching out to God in repentance and supplication, he reached out to the Assyrian king for deliverance. He took the silver and gold from the temple as well as the treasures from his own palace and used these sacred resources to buy protection from another foreign, godless king. And it worked—for a while. (2 Kings 16:7-9).

In depending on the arm of flesh rather than the arm of the Lord, Ahaz set in motion negative spiritual forces that would haunt his leadership and hurt his nation even beyond his reign. Namely, he became addicted to Assyrian help, and like all addictions, the more you use, the more you crave. And you will do anything to get a fix. Wanting more and doing anything got translated into copying the religious customs of the Assyrians and transporting them back to Judah. In fact, Ahaz actually changed the worship of God to now include the sacrificial rituals of the Assyrians gods—in the very temple of the Lord God of Israel. (2 Kings 16:10-18)

Ahaz became an example for all time of the wrong way to live and lead. He trusted everyone and everything else first, and pushed God to the margins of his life. And he became a vassal of sin. He should have demonstrated FA.I.T.H. the way his father and grandfather had. What do I mean by FA.I.T.H.?

Forsaking All, I Trust Him

That is still the only way to live. There is no middle ground, for by God’s design, walking with him requires full surrender, total obedience, wholehearted devotion and ruthless trust. Any other dependencies will lead to a compromise of faith, to adopting the ways of the world, and to an addiction to the things of the world that have no power to deliver unending favor, blessing and protection. Anything other than a lifestyle of full surrender will lead to becoming vassals of sin.

Yes Ahaz became an example of bad living and even worse leadership. But you don’t have to. All you need is to follow the simple F.A.I.T.H. formula: Forsaking All, I Trust Him. If you will ruthlessly commit to that kind of fully devoted lifestyle, God guarantees that you will live an outstanding life now that all heaven will be celebrate throughout eternity.