2 Chronicles 29-32
The people of God had celebrated Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread during Hezekiah’s time, and they did so with great joy; in fact, they extended the festival by one week and celebrated more. This summary of the event says it well: “There was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for nothing like this was known since the days of Solomon son of David, the king of Israel” (2 Chron 30:26). The priests then blessed the people–and the next words are the words that capture my attention today: “and God heard them, and their prayer came into his holy dwelling place in heaven” (2 Chron 30:27).
Think of it. Spiritual leaders spoke a blessing over the people, and God heard them. Indeed, the image of the prayer entering entering into the “holy dwelling place in heaven” is a powerful one. We speak, and God hears from heaven. In the devotional words of Matthew Henry, “the prayer that comes up to heaven in a cloud of incense will come down again to this earth in showers of blessings.”*
RESPONSE: Take all your requests to God in prayer today.
*Matthew Henry (1994), Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 607). Hendrickson.
