2 Chronicles 29:1-3, 17-18 “Spring Cleaning”

S = “Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old… And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them…“They began to consecrate on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the Lord. Then for eight days they consecrated the house of the Lord, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. Then they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, “We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the showbread and all its utensils.”

O = Hezekiah was fairly young when he became king—how many 25 year olds could be trusted to make wise and godly decisions? Yet Hezekiah did…and he started by removing the obstacles to wholehearted worship of the One True God. He didn’t need the first 100 days of his administration to make a plan about what to propose. The very first day of the first month he did what was in his power to do. In our culture many wait can’t wait until they are 16 so that they can drive, 18 to vote, 21 to drink, and 25 to rent a car. Hezekiah became king and right away challenged the priest and Levites to clean out the filth and false gods that were literally clogging the temple courts. It took eight days for the large group of workers just to reach the front porch of the temple (v.17) and another eight days to clean out the temple itself. It had become an unholy hoarder’s house rather than a place of true worship. After 16 days they finished the work and began to repent and covenant with the Lord with a massive sin offering. It seems that they recognized that it wasn’t just the sins of their fathers that was the problem, but their own sin as well. They had to first consecrate themselves, then the house of the Lord, and the people.

A = How often do we think about our complicity in “the sins of the fathers?” Our western philosophy is individualistic in the extreme and doesn’t fit with a biblical world-view that tends to see us all as connected. What can we do about the sins of the past? We can confess and stop doing them, consecrate ourselves and together start the dirty work of clearing out the filth—from our hearts, from our families, from our churches, from our society. Is there some way in which we have devalued the worship of the Lord? Does our heart and life look like a hoarder’s house—unable to repent of and renounce the socially acceptable yet clogging sins of laziness, gluttony, self-indulgence, love of money, dishonesty, etc.? What could we clean out this week as the Holy Spirit leads and empowers?

P = O Lord, I confess my sin and the sins of my fathers even in this land of plenty. We have not followed you with an undivided heart. We have not treated all people justly, we have not been thankful for your care as we should have been. O Lord, forgive us!   May we never allow our hearts to grow cold and our relationship with you our Savior to fall into disuse (like the temple in Ahaz’ day). May we be as available and committed to you and as privileged to be a part of the sudden change you want to bring into our midst, as Hezekiah was. O Lord, please empower us by your Holy Spirit even today! Amen.