How refreshing it is when a leader listens to God with a desire to do what He says.  A leader who seeks God with all their heart, mind, and soul has a great desire to do what God says, not for what God will do for the leader but for all people he leads.  Those whose hearts are wholehearted committed to God demonstrates the love of God to others—and they take notice and listen to the leader!  A revival of thought comes to those who seek God.  A return to God causes all of life to be made new!

The Apostle Paul proclaims this newness of heart, mind, and soul that is found in repentance to God in Jesus’ Name with what happens next;

“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:16-19

We are made new!  We no longer think how and what we used to think.  We no longer do what we used to do because our desires have changed to match more closely with God’s desires for us!  Our sins are gone, erased, no longer held against us. THIS is what makes our whole being new—without the baggage of the past holding us down. 

Made new means made free to live a different life with different thinking and behaviors.  Made new affects every part of our being—physically, mentally, emotionally, and most of all spiritually!  Hope is our new outlook on life!  We look to God daily with expectant daily Hope all because of Jesus’ sacrifice and victory over death in resurrection from death to life!  We are a redeemed people with a new desire to tell of God’s unending grace! This new life proclaims a new message to others—”Be reconciled to God! You won’t regret it! You will be revived from dead living to new eternal life living!”

Hezekiah’s committed heart, mind, and soul to God changed everything for the people living in Judah—God’s kingdom of God’s chosen people.  Hezekiah’s call to repentance with a return to God caused a great revival of thought throughout the land.  Because King Hezekiah trusted and obeyed God and told God’s people to do the same; God blessed Hezekiah with all he needed to continue to lead His people to be reconciled to God.

2 Chronicles 31

When all this had ended, the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh. After they had destroyed all of them, the Israelites returned to their own towns and to their own property.

Contributions for Worship

² Hezekiah assigned the priests and Levites to divisions—each of them according to their duties as priests or Levites—to offer burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, to minister, to give thanks and to sing praises at the gates of the Lord’s dwelling. ³ The king contributed from his own possessions for the morning and evening burnt offerings and for the burnt offerings on the Sabbaths, at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals as written in the Law of the Lord. ⁴ He ordered the people living in Jerusalem to give the portion due the priests and Levites so they could devote themselves to the Law of the Lord. ⁵ As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the firstfruits of their grain, new wine, olive oil and honey and all that the fields produced. They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything. ⁶ The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the towns of Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks and a tithe of the holy things dedicated to the Lord their God, and they piled them in heaps. ⁷ They began doing this in the third month and finished in the seventh month. ⁸ When Hezekiah and his officials came and saw the heaps, they praised the Lord and blessed his people Israel.

⁹ Hezekiah asked the priests and Levites about the heaps; ¹⁰ and Azariah the chief priest, from the family of Zadok, answered, “Since the people began to bring their contributions to the temple of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare, because the Lord has blessed his people, and this great amount is left over.”

¹¹ Hezekiah gave orders to prepare storerooms in the temple of the Lord, and this was done. ¹² Then they faithfully brought in the contributions, tithes and dedicated gifts. Konaniah, a Levite, was the overseer in charge of these things, and his brother Shimei was next in rank. ¹³ Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath and Benaiah were assistants of Konaniah and Shimei his brother. All these served by appointment of King Hezekiah and Azariah the official in charge of the temple of God.

¹⁴ Kore son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the East Gate, was in charge of the freewill offerings given to God, distributing the contributions made to the Lord and also the consecrated gifts. ¹⁵ Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah and Shekaniah assisted him faithfully in the towns of the priests, distributing to their fellow priests according to their divisions, old and young alike.

¹⁶ In addition, they distributed to the males three years old or more whose names were in the genealogical records—all who would enter the temple of the Lord to perform the daily duties of their various tasks, according to their responsibilities and their divisions. ¹⁷ And they distributed to the priests enrolled by their families in the genealogical records and likewise to the Levites twenty years old or more, according to their responsibilities and their divisions. ¹⁸ They included all the little ones, the wives, and the sons and daughters of the whole community listed in these genealogical records. For they were faithful in consecrating themselves.

¹⁹ As for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who lived on the farmlands around their towns or in any other towns, men were designated by name to distribute portions to every male among them and to all who were recorded in the genealogies of the Levites.

²⁰ This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. ²¹ In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Kings of Judah before Hezekiah’s rule worshiped false gods and led God’s people astray with evil deeds that were detestable to God. Hezekiah, however, followed God and desired to please him. He brought back and restored the reading, trusting and obedience of God’s Law given to Moses centuries earlier.  He destroyed the pagan temples and altars that had become common in Judah and reopened the temple in Jerusalem. He brought about a religious revival with a committed heart to God as he sought to restore the nation to God.  Hezekiah sought the heart of God. God heard, answered, and prospered him!  The old was gone the new had come!

God gave King Hezekiah wisdom with a plan to keep the “new” way of thinking and behaving instilled in the hearts of a revived people!  King Hezekiah knew that the blessings of the Passover feast wouldn’t continue unless the people could participate in the regular ministry at the temple. A great feast at Christmas or on some special anniversary can be wonderful, but you can’t live all year on one or two special meals. For that reason, Hezekiah followed David’s instructions (See 1 Chronicles 23–26) and organized the priests and Levites for ministry at the temple. He set a good example by providing from his own flocks and herds the sacrifices needed day by day and month by month. King Hezekiah sought the Lord and did everything for Him from his heart!  Great leaders ask people to do what they themselves do—all for God’s glory.  A worshiping people will always be a generous people, especially when their leaders set the example, and Judah was no exception. 

Revival and return to God is made complete when our subsequent behaviors are made new!  We are made new to be and make a difference!  Notice how hearts were stirred with the blessing of the Lord upon them as they left Jerusalem!  They think differently so they are compelled to be different!  They obeyed the Lord and destroyed the idols in Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. Having an exciting time praising God in a two-week special meeting is one thing, but returning home afterward and living like people who have met the Lord is quite something else. This is being made new is a lifelong process in our relationship with God who helps us live a new life! 

Being made new requires daily surrender to God.  Paul advises the church then and now of how to live our new life in Jesus;

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2, MSG

Return, Repent and be Saved. Surrender daily as an offering; then go tell others how to be reconciled to God!  Rinse and repeat.

Lord,

Thank you for reminding us that surrender to you first has everything to do with being made new daily by you.  It’s truly not exclusively about us.  It’s all about you!  You so loved the world that you gave us a Way to return to you by sending us the Truth who led us to eternal Life with you.  You gave all and that was more than enough to redeem us and set us free from our sins. We could not do that for ourselves. So, thank you, thank you, thank you!  Continue to develop your well-formed maturity in all of us as we live this made new life! I surrender all to you today.  Lead me, Lord.

In Jesus Name, Amen