THURSDAY, AUGUST 2
Scripture: 2 Chronicles 29:1-10, Ezekiel 13:19

This passage says, “Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. Then he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them in the East Square, and said to them: “Hear me, Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place. For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the Lord our God; they have forsaken Him, have turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and turned their backs on Him. They have also shut up the doors of the vestibule, put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. Therefore the wrath of the Lord fell upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has given them up to trouble, to desolation, and to jeering, as you see with your eyes. For indeed, because of this our fathers have fallen by the sword; and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us.” Is the church today walking in the covenant blessing or the distinct lack of it? How are we treating God’s temple? If we accept sexual sin as normal, have we not done exactly what Hezekiah’s father Ahaz did? Where is the Hand of God against our enemies to kill them? Ezekiel 13:19 states that sin in church leaders results in “…keeping people alive who should not live.” Washington DC could look quite different, if we would honor God’s temple with holiness! God would remove the rubbish.