Sunday I shared a message
with our church about King Hezekiah. He
wasn’t one of a kind, but he was somewhat of a rebel in his day. The kings before him and after him cared very
little about the things of God.
Similar to the people that
Joshua addressed in Joshua 24 we must make a choice who we will serve. Some have made poor choices to follow what
other people say, but Joshua was forthright about what he and his family were
going to do. They chose to follow God no
matter what.
Hezekiah did that as well. His choices determined the results and had a
great impact on the people around him.
2
Kings 18:3-7 NLT
He did right
in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places and
broke down the sacred pillars
and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses
had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was
called Nehushtan. 5 He
trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like
him among all the kings of Judah, nor among
those who were before him. 6 For
he clung to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments,
which the Lord had commanded Moses. 7 And
the Lord was with him; wherever he went he prospered.
Remember that this memorial
or history is recorded by the people who watched what Hezekiah did. It has been passed down for more than a
couple thousand years. They said that
Hezekiah “did what was right in God’s sight”.
That is a big deal.
The way we know what is
right in God’s sight is by what we learn in the Bible. God calls those who follow Him to respect God
and others. He tells us that our
character is what comes out when life is tough.
Because of the choice
Hezekiah made to follow God he led others to do what is right before God. The example of the king led those under his
care to follow what he did. The same
happens in our lives. The people around
us as we make important decisions are impacted by our decisions. If we do what is right, others will do what
is right.
This king trusted in the
Lord from the start. He was destined to
do something very different. His father
and many before him chose to everything in their power to do what was opposite
of what God wanted. Many people repeat
what their parents did. That was not the
case with Hezekiah. He chose to start
off in a new way. He chose to please
God, and that made things different.
Hezekiah looked at the
future and understood the choices in the present would impact the future. Not only were his choices and example for
those around him and for future generations, but those choices were conduits of
blessing. There would literally be a
return on his investment to do what honored God.
Finally, Hezekiah was known
as a man, a king that prospered because he placed his faith in. We learn from this one man’s choices that
there would be great blessings for a long time for making the best choices
today.
We learn from Hezekiah and
know that the same is true today. Our
choices to do what is right will influence others to do what is right. Also our righteous lives open up the
opportunity for even more blessings on those who do right and on the people
around them.
My desire is to see and hold
on to the blessings of our God, but I also want my family, both current and in
the future, we be beneficiaries of the same blessings from our gracious God.
Great and godly choices lead
to blessings that only God can give!
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