December 27, 2013 – 2 Chronicles 32:21 –33

Hezekiah was one of the ornaments on our Jesse Tree this year (first time doing it and I recommend it for all families). We went over his story very quickly and a couple of things from that came up here. The story we read said that all of Israel was to go our and meet the army, men, women, and children. They didn’t like it, but trusted God. As they traveled out to meet the army, they came over the crest of a hill and saw before them that the enemy had already been destroyed. I thought it added a little more to their trust in God as a community.

Then, Hezekiah gets sick and prays for more time to continue his reforms. And God gives it to him. 15 more years are added to his life. I was talking to Paul about this. I put it into the context of praying very hard for something and getting it, or following God and God helping you. I don’t know how, but Paul asked a very good question following this. “Was he a good person the next 15 years?” And I had to say no, he wasn’t. After all his reforms, all that he did right, and getting extra time from God, his arrogance overcomes him and he falls in the end. It was especially disappointing telling my 4 ½ year old that after talking about the great things that had been done.

Notice that Manasseh was 12 when he took the throne and Hezekiah spent his last 15 year acting badly, so his son never saw his dad acting well to emulate him.