Tearing Down the High Places!

2Ki 18:1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan. )

The land surrounding Jerusalem is a hilly place and from since the beginning of its habitation, the early Canaanites would establish holy shrines to their pagan deities upon the high places of the land marking their covenants with their plethora of gods. As the Israelites came to conquer and inhabit the land that had been promised to them God had warned them not to become like their neighbors but rather to root out and cleanse the land from the worship of idols. Many Israelites remained faithful to the God who had delivered them from Egyptian slavery. But many succumbed to the need to fit into the culture of the people they had just conquered. And after time, they too set up high places of worship to the Cannaanite deities of fertility and nature and just so they might offer some recognition to the God of their ancestors - they gave Yahweh a high place as well - alongside the Canaanite pantheon.

Recently, I have found myself praying constantly for my children. As I watch them grow and develop and see them begin to take on distinctive personalities I see also the influence of our culture on them - an influence that as many parents hope and pray - you wished all along they would transcend. But a culture's influence is pervasive and subversive. In thousands of small and unnoticeable ways, culture nurtures and gives meaning. Culture gives a sense of security and promises blessing. It provides art forms for expression of the human spirit. Culture draws us into the marketplace and articulates for us in powerful ways and through eye-catching mediums our needs and desires. My children (nor their parents) have not escaped this influence.

Hezekiah - the young king of Judah - observed as the chosen people of God "acculturated" themselves to influences that were not of Yahweh. They worshipped on the high places the deities of their neighbors. And in offering their worship to these gods they came to take on the values and habits and patterns of their neighbors - values that were completely foreign to the mission of light and justice and holiness God had called his people to perform and to be blessed by.

To strike at the heart of a culture's god or gods requires incredible boldness and courage. Doing so risks alienation and marginalization. In tearing down the high places one risks being regarded a fool judged as they are against powerful worldly norms. And yet, this is precisely what Hezekiah - twenty-five years old - did.

I wonder what it means for us to become "Hezekiahs" - in our family and home? In our workplace? In our church? In our schools? In our relationships? What does it look like for the people of God to take the leadership of the culture rather than simply (and in futility) always allowing the world to set the agenda for the church?

For many - this question brings fear and to them smacks of fundamentalism and small-mindedness. That is precisely what the world would have us believe - that any radical departure from our cultural norms and any observance of holiness and righteousness and community represents a revolution against "stability" and "politeness." And so - those who would "tear down the high places" and seek to restore the love and justice of God are marginalized to the edge. To my mind - this is a risk worth taking.

I see too many people whose lives are disintegrating, whose marriages are falling apart, who are addicted to substances that control their mood and behavior, who think that joy comes only in a momentary "high" rather than patiently over time in a life well lived. My heart grieves for these people - many of whom are close friends of mine.

But there is a way! It's a way that became revealed in fullness in the life of Jesus Christ. It's a way of wisdom and love, of sacrifice and yes, death. But on the other side of that death is an amazingly rich life of holiness where rather than give value to the high places of this world... we stand at the altar of God and surrender ourselves to Him alone. God has promised blessing to His holy people. I, for one, believe that promise to be true.