Is God Punishing You For Your Sin?

If you know much about Chronicles (or the Bible in general), you know that obedience brings blessing and disobedience brings punishment.  That theme is in every chapter of the 65 chapters of Chronicles.  It’s repeated so much, you might be forgiven for growing tired of it.  Apply that to your life and you realize that when you lose your job, your medical insurance premium jumps, or your children are incorrigible that it must be God’s punishment for your disobedience.

Not so fast.  Watch this:

Hezekiah “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”  Hezekiah cleansed the temple, commanded the people to be consecrated, rose early to make a huge sacrifice, called the people to worship, rejoiced in the Lord, called the apostate northerners to repentance, prayed on behalf of the people for forgiveness, led the nation in the greatest Passover celebration “since the time of Solomon,” presided over the destruction of idols, gave a huge contribution to the temple, and more.  It sums it up with this comment “every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered” (2 Chr 29:1–31:21).

What do you expect next?  How about a long list of good things that God did for Hezekiah because of his faithful obedience?  We see this with plenty of other good kings.

Here’s what it actually says next:

2 Chronicles 32:1 (ESV) “After these things and these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself.”

What’s going on?  This is not what Hezekiah deserves.  Why does God do this?

If you read the chapter, I suggest that you ‘ll find two reasons:

1. These devastating circumstances forced Hezekiah to trust God.  It’s easy to trust God when everyone is wealthy and at peace.  Invasion tests that faith, and finds its limits.  How did Hezekiah do?  He trusted God, and his example caused the people to trust God (see verses 6-11, 31).

2. God wanted to show himself glorious.  He did this not by defeating a wimpy army a thousand miles from home, but by taking on the undefeated world superpower at Jerusalem’s doorstep.  God is big enough for that, but you don’t know it if he doesn’t show you every once in a while.

Application: your situation may be the result of your sin.  It may also be because of your faithfulness, as God desires that you trust him more and watch him handle what you cannot.