The Un-Series: Week 8 Day 3

2 Chronicles 29:1-11

29 Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.

3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east 5 and said to them, “Hear me, Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place. 6 For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs. 7 They also shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel. 8 Therefore the wrath of the Lord came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. 9 For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. 10 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. 11 My sons, do not now be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.”

Have you ever heard someone say, “Do you know who his father was?”  I am sure people must have made that statement about Hezekiah. Of all the Kings of Judah, Hezekiah’s father Ahaz, is listed as the most evil (read 2 Kings 16 and Isaiah 7), even instituting child sacrifice. Hezekiah broke that mold and became one of Judah's best kings. Despite his young age and his father’s reputation, Hezekiah was more than able to lead his people and return them to serving God.

Children do have a responsibility to obey and honor their parents, but if those parents live lives steeped in evil, obedience becomes impossible. That does not mean the child cannot rise above it all. In spite of terrible parents, children can turn out amazing. If someone comes from a less than desirable family, rather than count them out, we need to look at their lives.  If they display a love for God, obedience to His Word, and a desire to serve Jesus in their lives, we need to embrace and encourage them. Perhaps, like Hezekiah, they might be mature beyond their years and may one day lead us!