It has been a busy week. We did Beyond Today taping in Cincinnati. Four programs were done by the team. My program this week was entitled “Spiritual Restlessness”. The recent Pew Forum study on the religious landscape of America formed the basis of the program. There is a great deal of ferment taking place in American religion and this survey is quite thorough in its evaluation of the religious patterns of Americans. More could be done on the subject.

I have been reading a series of books my wife Debbie introduced me to. They are a series called Chronicles of the Kings by Lynn Austin. She has taken the story of Hezekiah and filled in the details with characters and dialogue in quite an imaginative manner. I think she has done a good job of setting the timesand the culture and giving thereader an vision of life in Judah and Israel in the seventh century B.C. Last night I finished the the third volume, “The Strength of His Hands”. I highly recommend these books, with the caveat that some of you might not like the liberty an author has to take to flesh out the biblical story. But I think she is faithful to the text and it opens your mind to a better understanding of the times and the people.

My sermon tomorrow will trace the story of Hezekiah from the accounts in Kings, Chronicles and Isaiah. There are valuable lessons for us as we run up to the spring holy days. One of the lessons is Hezekiah’s pride when he showed the Babylonians around the temple and the city. Isaiah thoroughly rebuked him for doing this (Isaiah 39).