hezekiah 31 (prologue)

So I had an interesting thing happen the other day...it's kinda becoming a common occurance in my life! It happened during my evening devotions (insert twilite music here!). I picked up my new camo tin bible (yes...I've gotten into the unfortunate and expensive habit of losing the word every once in a while!)and was like "okay God...what do you want me to read tonite?!!" Dangerous thing to ask...but it's cool to include God in your decisions of where a good place to dig in to his Word might be...I mean, He wrote it - and knows exactly what you need to hear and when!
This nite it was Hezekiah 31...hahahaha - nice try! That's not even a book! Trying to pull a fast one on me, eh! I decided to check out where the story of Hezekiah was in the Bible, just in case I wasn't getting my lines crossed...turns out it was in II Choronicles, starting at chapter 29 thru to 32. Interesting...
Here was a king, who at the age of 25 began his rule and in the FIRST MONTH of his reign took up the task of restoring the temple to a place of worship. Talk about not beating around the bush with priorities!
These were some interesting points gleaned before I reached the portion God wanted me to focus on...
1. God is into accomplishing things quickly when people are into establishing him in their hearts!
29:35-36: So the Temple of the Lord was restored to service. And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because of what God had done for the people, for everything had been accomplished so quickly.
2. Just because it's a good idea, does not mean you will have the support of your own people. In fact, you will often be persecuted by your own.
30:10-11 The runners went from town to town throughout Ephraim and Manasseh and as far as the territory of Zebulun. But most of the people just laughed at the runners and made fun of them. However, some people from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem.
3. When the motive of our heart is pure, God is gracious in our mistakes.
30:18-20: “May the Lord, who is good, pardon those who decide to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors, even though they are not properly cleansed for the ceremony.” And the Lord listened to Hezekiah’s prayer and healed the people.
4. We were made to party (especially WITH God!)
30:23,26-27 The entire assembly then decided to continue the festival another seven days, so they celebrated joyfully for another week. There was great joy in the city, for Jerusalem had not seen a celebration like this one since the days of Solomon, King David’s son. Then the priests and Levites stood and blessed the people, and God heard their prayer from his holy dwelling in heaven.
When's the last time that we dropped everything to worship God for a week (or two) straight? Setting aside "LIFE" to celebrate how awesome our God is? When was the last time you experienced extreme joy because God was SO GOOD?!!! Perhaps this is a new season in the life of the church where the focus will be returned on God and the church will be a place of extreme joy at the liberty and freedom found in Christ...
because God is listening...