April 30, 2025 - 2 Chronicles 29-31

A blip (very good blip) in the road:  Hezekiah becomes king.  And though he was far from a perfect king, he was a good king.  He acknowledged Israel’s sins and set about on a new path:  “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us” (29:10).  He cleansed the temple of all its idolatrous things and restored the right worship of God.  “Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God.  And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered” (31:20-21).  It is good to have good and faithful leaders.  Then, we can sing:

Come, ye thankful people, come,

raise the song of harvest home;

all is safely gathered in,

ere the winter storms begin.

God our Maker doth provide

for our wants to be supplied;

come to God's own temple, come,

raise the song of harvest home.   --Henry Alford (1844)