Wed., 12/26/12 Devotion (2 Chron. 31:20-21)

Today's encouragement comes from 2 Chronicles 31:20 & 21, where we read these words:

"Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and true before the LORD his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered."

Hezekiah's reforms, mentioned in this chapter, had been significant. He had the idol worship places torn down, the clergy restored and re-organized, and the worship of the true God re-instituted in Judah. Be-cause of his good example, the house of God began to thrive again. Hezekiah was given by God a good heart--and the king's actions re-flected this, in his zealous conviction.

The result was that Hezekiah "prospered." His troubles and enemies did not go away, as we will see in the very first verse of the next chapter--but the king was safe in God, and his life was abundantly blessed. Let us follow this same pattern, through our faith in Jesus.

[Puritan quote of the day: "If the church is beautiful beyond all other of the children of men, how beautiful is Jesus Christ, from whom the church derives all its comeliness?" --Thomas Vincent, in, "The True Christian's Love to the Unseen Christ"]