II Chronicles 29:36 What God Had Prepared

When you read through the Bible, you will notice that certain events are repeated in other places of the Bible.  When you read the life of Jesus in all four gospels, you will read about Jesus’ death and resurrection four times.  You will read of the feeding of the five thousand four times.

You might be tempted to skim over these repeated stories, because you already know them.  The key is to read them in their context.  See which parts of the story are emphasized in each source.

This happens with the life of Hezekiah, one of the kings of Judah.  He is one of the major figures in the Bible.  His story occurs in II Kings, II Chronicles, and Isaiah, 11 chapters in all, much of the story being repeated.

You might be tempted to say that, oh, I already know that story.  But then you need to look a little closer. 

A major miracle occurs in his life and the life of the nation.  One of the greater miracles of the Bible.  Kings and Chronicles go into great detail about the whole thing.  Awesome and inspiring.

Chronicles mentions it but finds something far more important than a mere miracle.

Hezekiah restored the temple worship, gathered all the faithful throughout the entire land of Israel, including the north which was no longer a part of their nation, and they celebrated the Passover.  For two whole weeks even.  And not only that, but they broke some of the rules because so many new people came, and Hezekiah prayed about it, and God blessed them for it.

Later when God rescued the nation through a great miracle, Hezekiah prayed about that too, but it never says that God heard Hezekiah’s prayer like it does here.  Like this was the more important prayer.

2 Chronicles 30:26 (NASB95)  ²⁶ So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there was nothing like this in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel.

People were having great joy in God again, and this was the important thing.  Yes, miracles are nice.  Even necessary sometimes. 

But first things first. 

You need to have a relationship with God where you find intense joy.  You can’t work this up.  We’ve talked about this before, and we will again.  I’m not going to give here a three-step plan to intense joy.  A good first step is the realization that God wants you to have it.  That fact alone can tell you a lot about whether you are on the right track or missing something essential in your Christian life.