2 Chronicles 29 NLT
Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became the king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done. In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them. (1-3)
It is pretty common for old people (like me 😉) to be critical of the next generation. For time immemorial, older people have looked at the next generation and thought they were lazy, that they didn’t take things seriously, or appreciate the sacrifices made by their ancestors. It is pretty common for youth to criticize the elderly as “outdated” and for the elderly to criticize the youth as “misguided.” Yet, those stereotypes are often untrue. Sometimes, we need the next generation to do a better job than we have done and to actually repair the things we have broken.
This is the story of Hezekiah, but to really appreciate Hezekiah you have to know his father Ahaz. Ahaz was one of the worst kings in the entire bible. He had a godly father Jotham, who ruled well and honored the Lord. Then for some reason, Ahaz went completely off the rails and drug Judah down into the worst idolatry and ungodliness of its entire history. He closed the temple, desecrated all the things of God, and promoted pagan worship and false Gods to a level previously unheard of among the people of God. Somehow, though, when his son Hezekiah succeeded him he reversed all of his father’s bad decisions and got the nation back on track in what was one of the godliest reigns of any king since King David.
When I read that Hezekiah became king at 25, and in his first month reopened the doors of the Temple, that tells me that God had done a work in his heart long before he ever became king. It wasn’t like he became the ruler and then had a revival. On the contrary, he had been walking with God for some time (even as a youth) and he had heard the stories of his grandfather and had been influenced by other godly people as a young man. He knew what he wanted to do and the moment he was given the chance he began to set things right. Pray for the youth in our churches today. They are the future, and I fully believe that the Hezekiahs of tomorrow are among them. Pray that God would use them to do greater things than any of us can ever imagine.
