Take it to the Lord and leave it there

Have you ever noticed King Hezekiah’s prayer in 2 Kings 17? When Hezekiah was sent a very threatening letter, he did what other kings no longer did – he called out to God. Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. As if God didn’t already know what it said, he laid it out in the House of the Lord for the Lord to see it. 

Hezekiah prayed, and suddenly God was brought into the equation. As he prayed, he acknowledged that God is above everything and created everything. He looked at his adversaries and thought, they are nothing next to You. 

Maybe you ought to try that. Take the email you got last week or the mean text message or that comment that was made to you and just lay out there for the Lord to see. Take it to Him instead of running to tell everybody else.  

With the letter opened, Hezekiah prayed asking God to open His ears and hear and open His eyes and see what his enemies were doing. Then, he returned back to his palace and waited for the Lord to act.

In our city, we have a landfill. Whenever you have old appliances or just “junk” you no longer can use, you can take it there and leave it for the workers to dispose of it. I like going out there and taking my old, worn-out junk. I throw it in the big dumpster and then drive away, knowing I have gotten it out of my way. It’s no longer my concern. Once I leave the facility, it is their problem. 

Suppose, I had taken something to the landfill and tossed it in the dumpster. But then a couple of hours later, I came back just to make sure they were going to keep it. Once assured, I went on my way, but the first thing the next day, I am waiting at the front gate to check on the junk I left the day before. They would probably be nice, but they would think: “What is wrong with this guy? This is a dump. You dump it off and leave it behind.”

But that’s what we often do with the “stuff” we bring to the Lord. We go back and try to pick it up. We keep asking Him about it. “Lord, you sure you’ve got this? Maybe I ought to take it back.” 

A old hymn we sang back in my seminary days, went like this: 

Leave it there, leave it there,

Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there;

If you trust and never doubt, He will surely bring you out—

Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Follow Hezekiah’s example. Whatever it is, take it to the Lord and leave it there.