Read: 2 Chronicles 32:24-33; John 9:7
Hezekiah closed the upper outlet of the waters . . . and directed them down to the west side of the city of David. (2 Chron. 32:30)
At a recent adult education class, the presenter noted that we are at an inflection point in history—a time of change, a turning point. This is one of the reasons that many people are anxious today.
Seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, King Hezekiah lived at an inflection point in Old Testament history. Judah was threatened by the invasion of the ancient superpower, the Assyrians. The Chronicler emphasizes how King Hezekiah prepared. In 2 Chronicles, we read that the temple was cleansed and true worship was restored (chapter 29); a great Passover was celebrated (chapter 30); and priests and Levites were reorganized (chapter 31). Hezekiah sought the Lord. Hezekiah also diverted the waters from outside the walls to the inside of the city so that Jerusalem could withstand a military siege (32:30).
Some years earlier when the water spring was outside the city wall, out of fear Hezekiah’s father Ahaz shifted from one political alliance to another. Ahaz had in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently” (Isa. 8:6). In the gospel of John, Jesus told the blind man with his eyes caked with mud, “ ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). So he washed and came back seeing” (John 9:7).
At this present inflection point in history, let us wash in the ever-renewing springs of faith and act on that faith in quiet ways.
As you pray, draw on God’s spiritual streams of living water for today’s inflection points.
About the Author
Kent Fry is a retired pastor and visiting research fellow at the Van Raalte Institute in Holland Michigan.
