Tues.’s Devo - Cleansing the Land

Read: 2 Chronicles 33:14-34:33; Romans 16:10-27; Psalm 26:1-12; Proverbs 20:19 When Manasseh came back to Jerusalem he rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David and stationed his military around the towns of Judah. He tore down the pagan altars in Jerusalem and restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed on it but he didn’t cleanse the land of idolatry. Manasseh encouraged the people to worship the Lord, but they worshiped their idols on their pagan shrines that he had built. When he died his son Amon became king. He only reigned 2 years and worshipped idols. His own officials assassinated him in his palace. The people rose up and killed his assassins and put Manasseh’s son Josiah as king. Josiah was only eight when he came to the throne. He followed the Lord like David and did not turn from doing what was right. In his twelfth year he started cleansing the land of idols. He burned the bones of the pagan priests on their own altars. He went throughout the land of Israel cleansing the land of idols. After he had cleansed the land he restored the Temple and appointed officials over the Temple. He renovated the things that had been neglected in the Temple and got it back in operation. While they were working in the Temple they came upon a copy of the law. They brought the copy to Josiah who read it. He was so grieved by what it said and realized that they would be cursed for not following it. He sent his men to consult with Huldah a prophetess in Jerusalem. She told them that God was extremely angry because they had turned from him but because the king had humbled himself before the Lord, God’s destruction would not happen in his lifetime. Josiah summoned all the people and read the entire book of the law for them to hear. He led the people in reestablishing a covenant to follow the Lord. Then he continued cleansing the land of idols and did not turn from the Lord all of his days. In Romans, Paul ends his lists of people that he wanted to personally thank and honor for their hard work in the ministry. He understood that it was the body who made his success possible. He left them with a warning not to listen to people who caused division and upset people’s faith by teaching something other than the Word. He told them to stay innocent in their actions and have courage because the God of peace will soon curse Satan under our feet. All glory to You, Lord for you make us strong. You are the only wise God.