How quickly everything changes...
Just yesterday, we were reading about Hezekiah. A king who trusted God. A king who tore down idols. A king who prayed when he didn't know what else to do. A king who experienced miracles.
Then we turn the page to the next chapter. And his son, Manasseh, becomes king. Almost everything Hezekiah spent his life tearing down Manasseh rebuilt. The high places came back. The idols came back. The false worship came back.
How does a nation go from revival to rebellion in one generation?
It didn't just happen overnight. It rarely does. We've been talking about it alot through 1st and 2nd Kings. One compromise became another. One generation stopped remembering. One generation stopped valuing what the generation before them had fought so hard to protect. And before you know it they were rebuilding the very things God had delivered them from.
I look around our world today, and I see people trying to rebuild things that past generations knew would only bring brokenness.
We call evil good. We celebrate what God calls sin. We redefine truth to fit our feelings. We chase anything that promises happiness while pushing God further and further to the edges.
The Bible warned us this would happen.
But don't read this chapter and lose hope.
Because we've also learned something else about God. Dark chapters are never the end of His story. The enemy may rebuild altars But God is still raising up people who will tear them down.
For me lately revival has been something that God has been putting on my heart. Ive been learning what it is and what it isn't and what we need to do to prepare ourselves for it. Revival isn't something we experience once and then put in a museum for us others to see what it was like. It has to be pursued, lived for and passed on. But Every generation has to choose.
Every home has to choose. Every church has to choose. Every heart has to choose.
We can't live on our parents' faith. Our children can't live on ours. And the next generation won't know what to stand for if we aren't willing to show them.
As someone who works in a school every day, I think about that a lot. I'm surrounded by the next generation. Not just children who need a good education But hearts that need hope.
Hearts that need to hear the truth. Hearts that need to see adults who actually live what they say they believe. Someone has to keep the fire burning. Someone has to refuse to rebuild what God has already torn down. Someone has to keep pointing people back to Jesus.
I want to be one of those people.
I know what it's like for God to rebuild a life that was headed in the wrong direction. And I don't want the next generation to inherit a faith that's only talked about. I want them to see one that's lived out.
Love Pastor Mandy
MandiesDandies / Ark of Hope
Daily Reading 2 Kings 21
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