God’s Word for You
2 Chronicles 31:19-21 With all his heart
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, May 31, 2025
19 As for the descendants of Aaron, the priests who were in the fields around those towns, or any other towns, there were men designated by name to distribute portions to every male among them and to all who were recorded in the genealogies of the Levites. 20 This is what Hezekiah did throughout all of Judah. He did what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. 21 In everything that he undertook in the service of the House of God and in obedience to the law and the commandments, he sought his God and worked with all his heart. And so he prospered.
In the last few verses of this book (36:22-23), we see the King of Persia sending home the Jewish exiles after seventy years of captivity. Those verses are repeated very closely by the opening words of the book of Ezra, which describes what happened after the exiles returned to Judea and to Jerusalem. Many people think that Ezra wrote 1-2 Chronicles. Was he using the story of Hezekiah to urge the people to work faster? To be more faithful in their work? There are parts of that chronology that don’t seem to line up exactly, but we can surely see how Hezekiah’s story can be used to encourage all of us to be more urgent in the way we apply our faith.
Hezekiah did everything by seeking God and by working with all his heart. A man can lay down to sleep at night, praying, “Forgive the errors I made today, bless my sleep, and bless the work I do for you tomorrow for Jesus’ sake.” He doesn’t need to be a king to say those things. Every Christian can pray those things.
This doesn’t mean that this king was sinless. None of us is. But Hezekiah sought the Lord, trusted in the Lord, and served the Lord. His story reminds us that God forgives our failings. This isn’t because we are wonderful people, or because God cannot find any better servants in the world or in world history, but it’s only on account of Jesus. We put our faith in Jesus, and we are saved.
How is it that our faith saves us? There can’t be any forgiveness, or faith, for that matter, without sorrow, terror, and despair in the heart over sin. Someone who doesn’t care about sin won’t care about forgiveness or Christ through whom forgiveness has come. So the Law of God strikes this fear and this sorrow into our hearts. And yet sorrow doesn’t save, either. Repentance is both the sorrow over sin (or the terror of hell) and also the heart that trusts in Christ for our forgiveness. Knowledge of Christ comes only through the Gospel. Faith comes only through the Gospel. Faith is like seeing an enormous pile of gold coins and being handed a basket or a bag: “Take everything you can carry,” the Holy Spirit says as he hands us each a bag. Whatever we take, one coin or the bag full up to the brim and spilling over, it will be enough. Having the bag is a gift. Being given the gold is a gift. Not throwing it away or refusing it is wisdom. But the value of the gold—that is, the value of Christ—is not up to us at all. The saving power of Christ does not lie in the hand of faith, but in the merits of Christ. He lived the perfect life demanded of mankind. He suffered the agony of hell imposed upon every sinner. By trusting in him, we possess his perfection, and by trusting in him, the punishment of hell has already been carried out. He looks upon each one of us with the same judgment.
So, consider what will certainly and inevitably happen, on the Last Day. You will be called forward before his judgment seat, and the books will be open in front of Jesus our Lord, and he will look you in the eye. He will say, “I know you. I died for your sins.” And you will suddenly be aware of the smile on his lips that crinkles up the corners of his eyes, and you will see the love in his eyes and hear the compassion and invitation in his voice, and he will also say: “Come. I’ve got a place prepared for you. Come into my heaven and into your reward!” And that will be all there is to Judgment Day for you. Take his hand and go home.
Until then, keep trusting in him. Keep doing what you do as best you can for his sake. “The wicked will not stand in the judgment, for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous” (Psalm 1:5-6). And in Jesus, you are righteous.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.