Latest / Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms / #144. Afraid You'll Mess Up Your Kids? Hezekiah Proves God Is Bigger Than Your Family's Brokenness | 2 Kings 18 + 2 Chronicles 29-31 + Psalm 48

Transcript

#144. Afraid You'll Mess Up Your Kids? Hezekiah Proves God Is Bigger Than Your Family's Brokenness | 2 Kings 18 + 2 Chronicles 29-31 + Psalm 48 · Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms

• 0:00
  Steph: This is The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.
• 0:02
  Steph: I'm Stephanie Hickox, and today I know you are going to rejoice with me and say, Hallelujah, finally," as we look at the beginning of the reign of the Honorable King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18, 2 Chronicles 29 through
• 0:15
  Steph: 31, and Psalm 48.
• 0:17
  Steph: Even though his father was entirely wicked, the Lord used Hezekiah to bring great revival and reform in the nation of Judah.
• 0:23
  Steph: We'll give Hezekiah all the credit he's due, but before we can even talk about him, I see the goodness of the sovereignty of God in protecting his life.
• 0:31
  Steph: King Ahaz, his father, had sacrificed some of his sons to Moloch, but God preserved Hezekiah.
• 0:36
  Steph: We don't know the birth order, but here he is at 25, ready to come on the scene in righteousness He had plenty of time to observe the wickedness of his dad, and he's old enough to choose, Will I
• 0:46
  Steph: serve Yahweh or will I continue in the path of my father?"
• 0:49
  Steph: To answer that, let's look to 2 Chronicles 29 he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem.
• 0:54
  Steph: His mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
• 0:56
  Steph: And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done just two verses prior, we were told Hezekiah, his son, reigned in his place.
• 1:05
  Steph: But here the chronicler makes sure we understand that Hezekiah's spiritual heritage is so much more important than his biological heritage.
• 1:13
  Steph: He walks in the ways of his father, David.
• 1:16
  Steph: And oh, for you and I, that is gonna preach Already we can tell Hezekiah is going to honor the Lord with his reign.
• 1:23
  Steph: But how zealous is he, and how soon does he begin these reforms?
• 1:26
  Steph: Verse three tells us immediately.
• 1:28
  Steph: In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them.
• 1:34
  Steph: His father had closed them up so no one was allowed to make offerings to the Lord.
• 1:38
  Steph: But Hezekiah brings in the priests and the Levites and assembles them and says, 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
• 1:49
  Steph: place.
• 1:50
  Steph: For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God.
• 1:55
  Steph: They have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs.
• 2:00
  Steph: 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.
• 2:08
  Steph: Therefore, the wrath of the Lord came upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes.
• 2:17
  Steph: For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
• 2:23
  Steph: 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.
• 2:30
  Steph: 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 to make offerings to him Hezekiah's attempts at revival are effective.
• 2:42
  Steph: They follow and obey him.
• 2:44
  Steph: We've read about other kings that honored God, but were unable to produce the same momentum in the nation.
• 2:49
  Steph: But Hezekiah's zeal for the Lord is so contagious, and probably the Lord had allowed it to get so bad with Ahaz that there was a righteous remnant ready to say, "Enough.
• 2:59
  Steph: Let's return to the Lord."
• 3:00
  Steph: It takes 16 days for all of these priests and Levites to restore and cleanse the temple In verse 19, the Levites report to Hezekiah, All the utensils that King Ahaz discarded in his reign when he was faithless, we
• 3:12
  Steph: have made ready and consecrated."
• 3:14
  Steph: They don't say, "Your father," because I think they can tell how distant King Ahaz is from Hezekiah.
• 3:19
  Steph: They offer sacrifice after sacrifice to the Lord.
• 3:22
  Steph: And then following the example of David, the whole assembly worships.
• 3:25
  Steph: They praise with their instruments and with their voices, singing songs of gladness and bowing down, worshiping.
• 3:31
  Steph: Next, King Hezekiah asks the people to bring offerings to the Lord, and all who were of a willing heart brought them.
• 3:37
  Steph: And I continue to delight in what Hezekiah does in chapter 30.
• 3:40
  Steph: He sends to all Israel and Judah and writes letters that they should all come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover hezekiah's pure-hearted reform is to unify all the tribes back to the Lord.
• 3:51
  Steph: Even though the northern kingdom has been exiled, there is still a remnant He says, come, worship here at Jerusalem.
• 3:57
  Steph: 6.
• 4:00
  Steph: O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.
• 4:09
  Steph: Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the Lord God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see.
• 4:16
  Steph: Do not now be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord, and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.
• 4:28
  Steph: For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion from their captors and return to this land.
• 4:34
  Steph: For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away His face from you if you return to him."
• 4:40
  Steph: How does Hezekiah know and understand the grace and mercy of the Lord so deeply when all he's seen is wickedness and judgment in his days?
• 4:48
  Steph: The Lord has faithfully revealed his character to Hezekiah.
• 4:51
  Steph: He's unwavering in his trust, And you would think that upon hearing this moving speech, the nation would run to repentance.
• 4:57
  Steph: But most of Israel laughs and mocks the messengers.
• 5:00
  Steph: Yet some of the men of the tribes of Asher, of Manasseh, and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem And to ensure that we understand revival isn't just something we can produce ourselves, it's in partnership with the
• 5:11
  Steph: work of the Lord.
• 5:12
  Steph: Verse 12 tells us, "The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord."
• 5:19
  Steph: They come together honoring the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and they remove all the altars that are not to Yahweh.
• 5:25
  Steph: They celebrate the Passover, but there are some that hadn't properly cleansed themselves yet.
• 5:29
  Steph: They're allowed to enter into the Passover meal because Hezekiah understands that God cares most about the heart.
• 5:34
  Steph: He prays over these that haven't been ritually cleansed, "May the good Lord pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God the Lord, the God of his fathers, They keep this feast seven days with great gladness, And they
• 5:46
  Steph: sing with all their might to the Lord.
• 5:48
  Steph: And Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good skill in the service of the Lord.
• 5:53
  Steph: Not only is he a dynamic leader, he's also an encourager.
• 5:56
  Steph: He takes the time to notice and to say well done.
• 6:00
  Steph: At the end of seven days of celebrating, they decide, "Let's feast and worship for another seven days."
• 6:04
  Steph: See, this moment is 300 years after David's reign.
• 6:07
  Steph: This generation had never before in their lifetime seen worship like this, and a week is just not enough The chapter ends with the most beautiful alliteration then the priests and the Levites arose and blessed the people, and their
• 6:20
  Steph: voice was heard, and their prayer came to his holy habitation in heaven In chapter 31, the people continue to cleanse the land.
• 6:27
  Steph: They destroy all the high places in Judah, but also throughout Ephraim and Manasseh.
• 6:33
  Steph: The people take part in the revival.
• 6:35
  Steph: It's not just Hezekiah doing all the work.
• 6:37
  Steph: As the offerings continue and the needs of the temple remain, Hezekiah commands the people to give a portion of what they have to the Lord.
• 6:44
  Steph: And they gave in abundance, so much so that scripture tells us it began to pile up in heaps.
• 6:49
  And they need to bring more people in to take care of them.
• 6:51
  Steph: They consecrate the entire priestly line, males from three years old and upward.
• 6:56
  Steph: This reminds me of Samuel, as these little ones get to watch their fathers and take part in ministry even from a young age 31:18 tells us they were enrolled with all their little children, their wives, their sons, and
• 7:07
  Steph: their daughters, the whole assembly, for they were faithful in keeping themselves holy.
• 7:11
  Steph: This is a national and a family affair.
• 7:13
  Steph: And Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God.
• 7:20
  Steph: And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God, and in accordance with the law and the commandment seeking his God, he did with all his heart and prospered If we turn back to 2
• 7:30
  Steph: Kings 18, there's a really interesting detail that the chronicler didn't include.
• 7:34
  Steph: Hezekiah removed the high places, but he also removed that bronze serpent that Moses had held up to bring healing in the wilderness.
• 7:40
  Steph: even God's wonderful instrument of redemption and healing, the people had turned into an idol.
• 7:45
  Steph: They were making offerings to it and calling it Nehushtan.
• 7:48
  Steph: Hezekiah breaks it in pieces and destroys it because he understands that we cannot make idols or images of the God of Heaven.
• 7:55
  Steph: And no image will contain His glory Chapter 18 tells us he trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were
• 8:05
  Steph: before him.
• 8:06
  Steph: For he held fast to the Lord.
• 8:08
  Steph: He did not depart from following him, but he kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses, and the Lord was with him.
• 8:14
  Steph: Wherever he went out, he prospered He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.
• 8:19
  Steph: He saw the northern kingdom fall, but he doesn't give in to the intimidation.
• 8:23
  Steph: He trusts the Lord to protect them, and his hope is that if the people walk in repentance, there may be an opportunity to be spared finally we come to Psalm 48.
• 8:31
  Steph: This is written by the sons of Korah as they're delighting to worship in the temple.
• 8:35
  Steph: I particularly love the last half.
• 8:37
  Steph: We have thought on your steadfast love, O Lord, in the midst of your temple.
• 8:41
  Steph: As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
• 8:45
  Steph: Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
• 8:48
  Steph: Let Mount Zion be glad.
• 8:49
  Steph: Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments.
• 8:53
  Steph: Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, Go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever.
• 9:03
  Steph: He will guide us forever."
• 9:05
  Steph: I love that phrase, "We have thought on your steadfast love, oh God."
• 9:09
  Steph: When is the last time you just slowed down and thought about the relentless love of the Lord?
• 9:13
  Steph: And then it says, "Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments.
• 9:17
  Steph: We can find joy in the fact that God is just and righteous.
• 9:21
  Steph: Then we're to tell the next generation, We could be transformed by meditating on a number of lines in these chapters about Hezekiah and this psalm.
• 9:28
  Steph: But I think there's a very needed underlying message that can fill you and I with freedom and peace.
• 9:33
  Steph: It's possible that the buzzword of the decade is trauma.
• 9:36
  Steph: It's hard to study modern parenting for long without this concept coming up Of course, godly parents are to be loving and kind and restorative.
• 9:44
  Steph: They're to bless their kids instead of harm them.
• 9:47
  Steph: All of that is true of what God calls us to.
• 9:49
  Steph: but I think the enemy is using this cultural moment to incite fear into most moms We're often afraid to set boundaries and guidelines without fully understanding what the long-term consequences might be.
• 9:59
  Steph: We can become scared that if our kids see us fight in our marriages, what will it do to them?
• 10:04
  Steph: How about if they know that the family's struggling
• 10:05
  fi-financially,
• 10:06
  Steph: We hear constant foreboding statistics about kids leaving the church, We might even be tempted to look at our parents' shortcomings and think, "I would be in a better spot right now if I had been given a better start
• 10:17
  Steph: we might think our kids would be in a better position if we were better mothers or if our husbands were being better fathers, if we didn't have to work, if we had more money, if our kitchens were whiter,
• 10:26
  Steph: if we had more Christian friends.
• 10:28
  Steph: But if you and I understand how absolutely wicked King Ahaz was, and then we study Hezekiah's pure-hearted love and devotion for the Lord, it's difficult to read this account without being freed and released in the reality that there
• 10:40
  Steph: is hope in the Lord In all of our desire to bless our kids and be intentional, you and I must be very careful to not displace the sovereignty of God in our kids' lives.
• 10:51
  Steph: He is more than able to draw and to restore your kids and my kids, and you and I.
• 10:57
  Steph: So meditate on the steadfast love of the Lord.
• 11:00
  Steph: rejoice because of His judgments.
• 11:02
  Steph: And tell the next generation, "This is God forever and ever.
• 11:06
  Steph: He will guide us forever."
• 11:08
  Steph: Heavenly Father, we come before You rejoicing that You are sovereignly seated on the throne.
• 11:13
  Steph: You reign and rule in righteousness and in love.
• 11:15
  Steph: And Lord, when we're tempted to zoom in too much to what's going on right before us, give us a greater perspective.
• 11:22
  Steph: Open our eyes and fill us with the peace of a deeply rooted understanding that while we are provided with an opportunity to bless our children, let us not elevate our own impact.
• 11:32
  Steph: Instead, may we run to You, trusting You to heal any broken places in our hearts, in our spouses, and in our kids.
• 11:40
  Steph: May we have faith that you will use difficult circumstances for good in their lives.
• 11:44
  Steph: And even when things happen that we hoped would never be part of their story, may we believe in your ability to transform it all for your name.
• 11:52
  Steph: May this realization of your power, your perfection, and your providence lead us to lives of worship Jesus, It's in your name we pray.
• 12:00
  Steph: Amen