2 Chronicles 29:1-11: a reflection

1Hezekiah 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. 2He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, according to all that David his father had done. 3In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the LORD’s house and repaired them. 4He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together into the wide place on the east, 5and said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry the filthiness out of the holy place. 6For our fathers were unfaithful, and have done that which was evil in the LORD our God’s sight, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs. 7Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. 8Therefore the LORD’s wrath was on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has delivered them to be tossed back and forth, to be an astonishment and a hissing, as you see with your eyes. 9For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. 10Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us. 11My sons, don’t be negligent now; for the LORD has chosen you to stand before him, to minister to him, and that you should be his ministers and burn incense.”

Hezekiah becomes king after years of neglect and unfaithfulness, in which the temple doors had been shut, the lamps put out, the worship of God abandoned. And in the very first month of his reign, he acts: he opens the doors of the LORD's house, gathers the priests and Levites, and calls them to sanctify themselves and cleanse the temple of the filth that had accumulated. He does not wait; he begins at once to restore what had been neglected and to renew the nation's devotion to God.

Notice Hezekiah's first act as king: to reopen the doors that had been shut and cleanse what had been neglected. Under the previous unfaithfulness, the worship of God had been abandoned, the temple left to gather filth. Hezekiah does not ignore this or leave it for later; he makes the restoration of God's house and worship his first priority, opening the doors, cleansing the holy place, calling the people back to their neglected devotion. He began his reign by putting God first again.

That is a picture of what renewal looks like after a season of neglect. There can be, in our own lives, doors that have been shut, devotion that has been abandoned, a holy place grown neglected and filthy while our attention was elsewhere. Renewal begins as Hezekiah's did: by reopening the doors, cleansing what has been neglected, and putting God first again. If your devotion to God has been neglected, the doors shut, the lamps gone out, do not delay in restoring it. Do as Hezekiah did: open the doors again, cleanse what has grown neglected, and make renewed devotion to God your first priority, not something put off for later. The place that has been neglected can be reopened and cleansed; begin, as Hezekiah began, at once, by putting God first again.

Lord, Hezekiah became king after years in which the temple doors had been shut and your worship abandoned; and in the first month of his reign he opened the doors, cleansed the holy place of its filth, and called the people back to their neglected devotion, making you his first priority. Show me in that what renewal looks like after a season of neglect. There can be, in my own life, doors that have been shut, devotion that has been abandoned, a holy place grown neglected while my attention was elsewhere. Renewal begins as Hezekiah's did: by reopening the doors, cleansing what has been neglected, and putting you first again. If my devotion to you has been neglected, the doors shut, the lamps gone out, keep me from delaying in restoring it. Help me do as Hezekiah did: open the doors again, cleanse what has grown neglected, and make renewed devotion to you my first priority, not something put off for later. The place that has been neglected can be reopened and cleansed; help me begin, as Hezekiah began, at once, by putting you first again, Lord.