31:11-32:33 - Seek God and serve
God. This is what King Hezekiah did - ‘he did what was good and right
and faithful before the Lord his God,... seeking his God... with all his
heart’ (31:20-21). Seek God and serve God. This is what we must do. God
was good to Hezekiah - ‘the Lord saved Hezekiah...’ (32:22). God is
good to us. He saves us. To ‘all the ends of the earth’, He says, ‘Turn
to Me and be saved’ (Isaiah 45:22). He calls us to come to Him through
Jesus Christ, ‘the Saviour of the world’ (John 4:42). It is so easy to
forget the Lord. Hezekiah was delivered from death yet he did not thank
the Lord (32:24-25). We may forget the Lord, but He does not forget us.
He waits for us to return to Him and receive His forgiveness - ‘the Lord
is merciful and gracious... He does not deal with us according to our
sins...’ (32:26; Psalm 108:8-13).
33:1-34:13 - Good
work can be very quickly undone - ‘Manasseh... did what was evil in the
sight of the Lord... he rebuilt the high places which his father
Hezekiah had broken down, and set up altars to other gods...’ (33:1-3).
We must be careful to follow the godly example of those who have served
the Lord well. In Hebrews 11, we read about God’s faithful servants.
They served the Lord in their day. We are to serve Him in our day -
‘surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,... let us run with
perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus...’
(Hebrews 12:1-2). Bad work can also be undone if, like King Josiah, we
are ready to make a new beginning with God (34:1-4). He was only ‘eight
years old when he began to reign’. Pray that the children will start
loving God now and keep loving Him as they grow older.
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