Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Obedience
- Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity. Our true identity comes only from our Father.
Hezekiah’s
reign, at least from the perspective of the Chronicler, is one of obedience.
Hezekiah obeys after a horrible example set by his father. The Levites and the priests obey when called
upon by Hezekiah and pull down the places for false worship. The people obey when they see the example of the king and the
priests before them and offer up sacrifices for the temple. In a single
generation, the people of Israel go from being a disobedient people caught up
in the world of false gods to a nation getting back on the right track.
This is the
simple power of obedience. One obedient
act leads to another. Several obedient
acts lead to a pattern of life. Several
patterns of life lead to a life that is generally devoted to the pursuit of God
and His ways.
One obedient
man inspires obedience in the lives of those near him. That obedient group inspires obedience in a
larger group. Soon the whole nation is
responding to the obedience set forth by a single man.
Don’t get me
wrong. I’m not trying to paint an over-glorious
portrait here. I’m sure that there were dissidents. We know that it won’t take long after Hezekiah
is no longer king before the nation falls.
If you read the account of Hezekiah in Kings, you get a glimpse of some
of the mistakes that Hezekiah made. I’m
not saying that Hezekiah was perfect and that the nation was perfect in any
way. But what I am saying is that a few
obedient acts can have an impact that we cannot foresee.
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