Hold Tight

"For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments which the Lord had commanded Moses."  2 Kings 18:6

I have great memories of bringing my children out into the ocean waves for the first time.  I guess I saw it as a fatherly type responsibility, sort of like teaching them to ride a bike.  I would let them warm up a bit by playing with them in the ankle deep water, and then I would take them in my arms and venture out into the deeper water and the bigger waves.  I can still almost feel the octopus suction grip they would have on me as we would get knocked by the waves.  There was always fun and laughter as long as my grip was strong on them, and theirs on me.
To me this gives a great picture of one of Judah's best kings, Hezekiah.  The word tells us that as Judah's king, "there was none like him", and we are told the main reason why, "he held fast to the Lord".  And so we have a great picture of Hezekiah, one of the best and strongest kings, clinging tightly to his God, like a child clinging to his dad in the waves.
Hezekiah became king in a very difficult time.  His father was a horrible king, who promoted idolatry and even went so far as to board up the temple.  Also during that time, Assyria was a powerful enemy that kept threatening Hezekiah.  The young king was indeed venturing out into the bigger waves, yet we see he was bold and strong because he clung to God.
We are living in days of rough and choppy seas.  Our tendency might be to remain on shore, or to stay in the safe ankle deep water.  But we all know that the Lord would call us to the adventure of greater depths and bigger waves.  Its important to remember, His call it not to the waves, but to His arms, and He will never be shaken, nor will He ever fail.  What a blessed lesson we learn from good king Hezekiah, who was a good king because in the midst of difficult days, "he held fast to the Lord".