FRIDAY, JUNE 29: Charity begins at home. Love begins at home. When home base is taken care of you can make a run for the bases.
That was the attitude and action taken by King Hezekiah, who was responsible for the cleanup of the church, the sanctification (cleanup) of the priests and Levites, and was thus able to leave the house of God in order to do greater works.
2 Chronicles 31:1 Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.
It is incumbent that leaders do right “within” before they go “without”. As much as humanly possible, the mask of hypocrisy should never be in operation. Verse 1 is clear. Now that King Hezekiah had done his first work of cleaning the house of God, he was able to go forth and dare to clean the cities of Israel.
The major task for King Hezekiah remains the major task for pastors today. What is that task? It is the task of pulling down and destroying idols that have been set up by the people.
When people set up anything to replace God, they will stand in need of help. Until you are ready to tear down and destroy what you have put in front of your relationship with God, you cannot expect that God will bless you abundantly.
When God delivers you out of Egypt, out of bondage, then you ought to thank God for what He has done and never replace God with an object/thing/person.
You will be tested on whether you love God above all else.
Why have you refused to reconnect with God? Was it because of a person? Oh, so that means a person has become your idol. You have lifted that person above God and therefore God is the loser in your life.
Have you replaced your relationship with God with a sport or a hobby? Then you know where your heart is and you know where your treasure is.
King Hezekiah masterfully gave the instruction to “utterly destroy”. That was powerful! Do not only tear down.
No! Something torn down can be picked back up. Do not break the idol. Something broken can be fixed.
No! King Hezekiah instructed that the idols, those things that had replaced God, be “utterly destroyed”.
When something is destroyed it is beyond repair and beyond ever having the ability to work again.
In other words, whatever persons may have set up above God, once it is destroyed, it will no longer be an effective replacement for God.
Once the destruction of idols had taken place, then one more time the people could gather and take joy in bringing in their offerings of thanksgiving and praise.
2 Chronicles 31:2 And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the tents of the Lord.
Oh, the beauty of being able to freely come into God’s House, lift up hands and voices, and give Him praise.
The enemy of your souls wants you to be hindered from offering up the sacrifices of praise. Determine in your heart that you will not be stopped.
Make sure that there is nothing between you and God that would stop God from hearing your cries and answering your prayers.
Do what you have to do to offer the best of who you are to God, and watch God reward you with the best of who He is.