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Enjoy Life, Enjoy God


Dale Patterson

FAITH A VERB

February 23, 2010

Sometimes when we look only at the facts, the hard data, what we see may seem bleak. The data is so much harder, or tangible than a call to faith.

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"Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, 'The Lord will deliver us.' Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?"
- 2 Kings 18:32-34 TNIV 

The facts stack up against Hezekiah. The King of Assryia makes ready to wipe out the people of God under King Hezekiah. Yet he sends a spokesperson out to give them one last chance to surrender. Cleverly the Assyrian voice reminds not just Hezekiah, but all his subjects behind the walls of Jerusalem, "Our army is undefeated. Every king has told his people that their god would rescue them. Don't believe it or you'll be dead like them." Those are the obvious facts. But they are not the only truth!

Faith is a verb. Faith is not merely a lifeless fact on a piece of paper. Hezekiah faces the facts, but does so armed with his devotion to a god who truly is God! He puts his faith into action, a verb, and does so by inviting his people to do likewise. That includes you and me.
Joyfully,

Dale Patterson