II Kings 18:5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel: so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.
Superstition and Faith
Are you superstitious or do you know someone who is? Maybe you are afraid to cross paths with a black cat, or maybe you have a lucky rabbit’s foot which you carry around in your pocket. These are stereotypes, and I doubt that many people are mindful of those things. However, I think all of us, to some extent, get stuck in ruts in which we feel comfortable. If we are not careful, we will trust these ruts instead of the God Who may have blessed those means, habits, or actions in the past.
An example of this is the people of God who were ruled by King Hezekiah. II Kings 18:3 says of Hezekiah, “He did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.” He removed the high places, broke the images, and cut down the groves. He got rid of idolatry. The next thing he did was rather shocking for the time because he destroyed something that God had ordained, Moses had made, and through which God had rendered miraculous deliverance in times past. But he destroyed it nonetheless because now the people were trusting in that thing instead of the God Who gave power. The Bible says, “He brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called in Nehushtan. He trusted in the LORD God of Israel.”
This is interesting. God commanded Moses to make this brazen serpent to deliver Israel , but over time it had become an idol. It had displaced the God Who had ordained it.
Now think about the courage it would have taken for Hezekiah to break in pieces this brass serpent. Moses, a hero in Israel, had made it at God’s command, yet Hezekiah had the courage to get rid of it because the honor had been taken from God and put in this brass serpent.
You and I should be thankful for the means that God has given and for the people whom God has used in years past, but none of us should allow a man or a method to displace the honor and the dependence given to God alone for He alone is God. God does not wish us to just be superstitious. God wishes us to be people of faith who obey Him and trust Him for the results.