2 Chronicles 30:21-27
Verse 21 The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great rejoicing, while the Levites and priests praised the Lord every day with resounding instruments dedicated to the Lord.
Though the people of God had not been celebrating the Passover and Feast of Unleavened bread for many years, they were doing their best to celebrate it with the young King Hezekiah. This king may have been new to the throne and younger than other kings had been, he was proving to be a good king. After getting the ball rolling about celebrating the festival he kept encouraging the priests in their roles.
Encouragement is something each of us can appreciate. To know your efforts are helping others and they are thankful for you, builds a person up. These priests had been convicted through their obedience in helping the people worship and the king knew a big part of the success of the festival was because they had allowed their hearts to be aligned with God’s and were being obedient to what God had called them to do.
The people were glad they had come together to obey God by celebrating this long ignored festival. God was pleased with their worship and filled His people with joy. The Lord allowed it to become such a joy to His people they decided to celebrate it for another 7 days. Now this wasn’t in the original allowance by the Lord when the festival wasn’t held on its prescribed date but the Lord seemed so pleased these people wanted to worship Him in joy, He allowed it.
The king was also pleased with the decision to continue the celebration and provided the animals for the sacrifices which were being offered up to the Lord. This whole process caused many of the priests to consecrate themselves. God was using worship to change His people’s lives and to bring them to understand the joy of obedience.
All the people gathered and rejoiced, meaning they had a grand worship service, lifting their voices in praise of the God who brought His people out of their slavery and had been faithful to bring them to the land He had promised them. The priests stood and blessed God’s people and their praise reached Him. It had been many years since God had heard the collective sound of joyful praise, oh the joy that must have brought Him.
Making It Personal
Have you ever enjoyed a time of worship so much you didn’t want it to end? How can you take the spirit of worship with you after you leave a time of worship? What can you worship Him for today?
Making It Personal Kids
What is something you enjoy about worship? Do you like singing about Jesus? What are some ways you can worship Jesus during a normal day?
Closing Prayer
Father, we worship You. There is no one like You and no other worthy of our praise and worship. Give us joy in our worship and help us come to love spending time worshiping You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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