Immediate action

2 Chronicles 29:3-7

“³ 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. ⁴ He summoned the priests and Levites to meet him at the courtyard east of the Temple. ⁵ He said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and purify the Temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all the defiled things from the sanctuary. ⁶ Our ancestors were unfaithful and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They abandoned the Lord and his dwelling place; they turned their backs on him. ⁷ They also shut the doors to the Temple’s entry room, and they snuffed out the lamps. They stopped burning incense and presenting burnt offerings at the sanctuary of the God of Israel.”

When our girls were young, we would ask them to clean their room or the playroom. We would make sure they heard the message and hoped they would go and do whatever we were asking. Some time would pass, and we would check on their progress, or lack thereof. Most of the time, the girls would jump right on the task, and other times they would ignore the task and continue to play. Obviously, the goal was to coach them to immediate action when they were asked to do something. I can tell you that this lesson was not easily learned.

Hezekiah was the son of the wicked king Ahaz of Judah. Despite Ahaz’s father, King Jotham, being a godly king, Ahaz became a wicked man, defiling the temple and even committing such horrible acts as sacrificing his own children to the god Molek. He closed the temple of the Lord, and while he was king of Judah, Israel looked like their pagan neighbors and nothing like the people of the Lord.

Hezekiah’s mother was Abijah, the daughter of the high priest Zechariah. Hezekiah’s uncle may have had something to do with his upbringing as well. For one thing, we see that Hezekiah was not like his father Ahaz. Hezekiah might have spent more time with his mother’s side of the family, while Ahaz was out sacrificing children and making alliances with wicked nations such as Assyria. During this time, Hezekiah was learning the ways of the Lord. When Ahaz passed away and Hezekiah became king, he got busy.

Our verse today starts with the words “in the very first month.” These little words tell us that Hezekiah did not waste any time getting things back in order. He reopened the doors of the temple, removed all the idols, and restored the customs the Lord gave to Moses. He also called all of Israel to celebrate the very first Passover in many years. It all started the minute he became king. He didn’t waste time or gather a council to give him restoration ideas, no, he simply got busy restoring the temple and the worship of the one true God.

Today, I want to highlight your attentiveness. How do you react to the Lord? Do you obey when the Lord tells you to pray for someone or send them an encouraging note? Do you get right on it, like Hezekiah did, and begin right away? I loved it when my girls got right on it when I told them to do something. The Lord is waiting for you to get busy! Get busy doing what the Lord tells you to do.

For me, it was writing. He told me, “I want you to write what I highlight in my Word,” and I did it. I also heard a message from Tony Evans one day about prayer, and he posed a question: “Do you have a prayer plan?” The Lord instantly told me to walk in the mornings and pray. So I did it.

This is your time to get on task with what the Lord tells you to do. Start now and be God’s yes man. Yes Lord, I will. Yes Lord, I will send that message. Yes Lord, I will pray for this person. Yes Lord, I will lead that group. Yes Lord!!! We “walk” by faith, not sit by faith, so get busy and obey the Lord.

Prayer: Father, help us to obey You when You tell us to do something. We are all in the boat of procrastination. I pray that we will obey Your call and heed Your direction when we hear it. I pray that we move forward understanding that the Author of tomorrow has already ordered our steps. In Jesus’ name, amen.