Tues.’s Devo - Signs and Wonders

Read: 2 Kings 20:1-22:2; Acts 21:18-36; Psalm 150:1-6; Proverbs 18:9-10 Hezekiah became deathly ill and Isaiah was sent to tell him to get his affairs in order because he was going to die. When Isaiah left, Hezekiah cried out to the Lord. He reminded him of his faithfulness. Before Isaiah could get to the door, the Lord told him to turn around and go back and give Hezekiah a new word. God had seen his tears and heard his cry. He would be healed in three days and the Lord would give him 15 more years of life. Then he gave Hezekiah the cure. *** Hezekiah asked for a sign that he would be healed and Isaiah asked him if he wanted the shadow on the sundial to go forward ten steps or backward ten steps. Hezekiah asked for the impossible. He wanted it to go backwards ten steps, and it did. *** Soon after he had recovered, the king of Babylon sent ambassadors to send him his best wishes and a gift since he had heard he had recovered from a bad illness. Hezekiah received them with hospitality and showed them the wealth and defense of his nation. When they left Isaiah came to see him. He asked him who they were and what he showed them. Then he told him that all he showed them would one day be theirs. His own sons would be made their eunuchs and taken into exile. *** Hezekiah was just glad it was not going to happen in his lifetime. During his 15 years of added life, he had a son named Manasseh. Hezekiah died and Manasseh became king at the age of 12. He did evil and worshiped everything but God. He led the people into great idolatry and sin. He even sacrificed his own son in the fire. He set up an image of Asherah in the Temple of the Lord, the place where the Lord had told David and Solomon that His name would be honored forever. He also murdered many innocent people. *** God send words through his prophets that Manasseh had done more evil than the Amorite kings who lived in the land before Israel. God said he would judge Judah as he had judged Israel. Manasseh died and was buried in his garden and Amon became king. *** Amon was 22 when he became king and followed in the sins of his father, Manasseh. His own officials assassinated him in his palace. The people killed his conspirators and made his son, Josiah their king. Josiah was only 8 years old and reigned in Jerusalem 31 years. His mother was Jedidah and he did what pleased the Lord, following the example of David and not his father. *** In Acts, Paul had finally reached Jerusalem and met with the believers to give them a detailed account of how God’s Spirit was touching the Gentiles everywhere. The believers were afraid for Paul because the Jewish believers spoke evil of Paul. They said he had turned from the law and taught the Gentiles not to follow it. Paul’s followers wanted Paul to do an open act to prove that he still followed the law. When Paul went to the Temple to stand behind this act, the ones who opposed him came and grabbed him. They accused him of letting Gentiles into the Temple. A riot incurred and they dragged Paul out of the Temple so they could kill him. *** Word reached the Roman regiment that all Rome was in am uproar so they came and stopped the beating, arrested Paul and put him in prison, saving his life. The crowd grew so violent, the soldiers had to lift Paul up on their shoulders. *** Lord, May we never be ashamed of the gospel of Christ or it is the power of God to salvation for the Jew and also the Gentile.