Love Like Hezekiah
When Hezekiah took possession of the throne from his father King Ahaz, he
went on a housecleaning spree. He reopened the doors to God’s house and repaired
them. He gathered the priests and Levites and placed them on the square on the
east as they had been during King David’s reign. Temple worship was restored and
the Passover Celebration reinstated. There were music and rejoicing and praising
God like had not happened since King David and King Solomon’s times. Idol
worship and pagan practices were stopped. The people were ready for this change.
King Hezekiah loved God, and he wanted everyone to love God as he did. He saw
his people through eyes of faith, and he watched their lives and how they lived
each day. He knew obedience to God and God’s commandments would reap unexpected
blessings, and he wanted the people to understand this and want real change in
their hearts. His tenure of twenty-nine years saw many changes as he overcame
struggles of reform for the benefit of his nation. He believed they had to
return to worshiping God, and he implemented a national charge for this change
to come about.
One of King Hezekiah’s major conflicts was the evil Assyrian King. When King
Hezekiah saw the Assyrian soldiers outside the gates of his city, he and the
prophet Isaiah went to God in prayer and asked for His guidance in this attack
and situation. Then God sent an angel to destroy the mighty Assyrian soldiers as
He guided them on every side. God helped defeat this corrupt ruler and the ruler
returned to his country in disgrace.
The Israelites witnessed a great victory, and they knew God had given the
victory to them because King Hezekiah fell to his knees and asked for God’s
help. They knew their king loved God with all his heart and soul and mind and
thus, was part of the victory.
The love King Hezekiah had for the God of Israel drove him to revival and he
became known as the reformer and returner to Moses’ ways. He told the masses
from the tribes as they gathered during his spiritual renewing, “Now it is in my
heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His burning anger may
turn away from us.” (II Chronicles 29:10). The people understood and were
willing to unharden their hearts and obey God as King Hezekiah encouraged them
to do.
Love for God and his people is Christlike love. This love should live in all our
hearts as it lived in this king’s heart.
© Carol Dee Meeks