Sat.'s Devo - Restoring the Temple

Read: 2 Chronicles 29:1-36; Romans 14:1-23:Psalm 24:1-10; Proverbs 20:12 Hezekiah was 25 when he became king. He pleased the Lord like David did. In the first month of his rule he reopened the doors of the Temple and repaired them. He met with the priests and commanded them to purify themselves and the Temple. The doors of the Temple had been closed by King Ahaz and the lamps had been snuffed out. That was why the nation had declined and lost power and respect. Their men had been killed in battle and their women and children had been taken into slavery. The Levites got right to work and purified themselves and began to cleanse the Temple. They took all the defiled things out of the temple and burned them in the Kidron Valley. They started on the first day of Nisan and ended the sixteenth, the day after Passover. They reported back to Hezekiah and he offered seven bulls, seven rams and seven lambs as burnt offerings to the Lord. They sprinkled the altar with the blood and prayed for all Israel. Hezekiah stationed the singers and musicians in the Temple and presented the burnt offerings with songs and praise to the Lord. The people worshipped the Lord as the singers sang and the trumpets blew. Then the people were able to bring their sacrifices to the Lord. Three thousand, three hundred and seventy offerings were given. There were too few priests so the relatives of the Levites had to help them with the offerings. The Temple was now restored to service. In Romans Paul encouraged them to stop judging each other and instead to judge themselves. They were to be true to their own convictions and accept one another for their own beliefs. If we live our lives pure and holy and love others, they will want to live their lives pure and holy also. The most important thing is to be true to our own convictions. They were stumbling over religious laws about eating instead of obeying God from their hearts. We stumble over small insignificant things just like they did. What might be okay for someone else might not be right for us. We are only responsible for our own hearts. Lord, help us to listen to the Holy Spirit in us and do what it tells us to do. Help us not to judge other people by ourselves but let You judge them.