Originally posted: 6/03/2020
Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok said to him, “Since the contributions began to be brought into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat with plenty left over, for the Lord has blessed His people, and this great quantity is left over,” (31:10).
How had the people come to this place of prosperity and abundance; the place to experience this Overflow of His Blessings, with plenty left over?
During the previous sixteen years, under the reign of King Ahaz, the people found themselves living in anything but a place of Blessing. Rather, for sixteen years they resided in a place of captivity, humbling, affliction, helplessness, distress, defeat, and in such a downfall and downward trajectory, that ultimately the doors to their only hope were closed.
Wherefore, the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Aram; and they defeated him and carried away from him a great number of captives… 19 For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel… 20 So Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. 21 Although Ahaz took a portion out of the house of the Lord and out of the palace of the king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria, it did not help him. 22 Now in the time of his distress this same King Ahaz became yet more unfaithful to the Lord. 23 For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him…But they became the downfall of him and all Israel… 24 Moreover, when Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God, he cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces; and he closed the doors of the house of the Lord…(2 Chronicles 28:5, 19-24).
Enter King Hezekiah… and the first thing on his kingly agenda: open the doors again to hope, the hope of a restored relationship and fellowship with the Lord God of Israel.
In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them… 10 “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His burning anger may turn away from us,” (2 Chronicles 29:3, 10).
Many reforms were ushered in under his leadership, and suddenly we find King Hezekiah and his people prospering, abundantly… experiencing the Overflow of His Blessings.
Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok said to him, “Since the contributions began to be brought into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat with plenty left over, for the Lord has blessed His people, and this great quantity is left over,”… 21 Every work which he began in the service of the house of God in law and in commandment, seeking his God, he did with all his heart and prospered, (31:10, 21).
The Overflow was happening, and Hezekiah was ready.
Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare rooms in the house of the Lord, and they prepared them. 12 They faithfully brought in the contributions and the tithes and the consecrated things; (31:12).
But it was the Lord Who Made His people ready as He Made Room for the Overflow of His Blessings.
Consider Him Who Makes Room for the Overflow of His Blessings
- He Makes Room for the Overflow of His Blessings in polluted lands… now emptied of idols.
- Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the Asherim and pulled down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, until they had destroyed them all, (31:1).
- He Makes Room for the Overflow of His Blessings in conflicted hearts… now emptied of divided devotion.
- Also he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to the law of the Lord, (31:4).
- He Makes Room for the Overflow of His Blessings in ill-advised aspirations… now emptied of holding back the best.
- As soon as the order spread, the sons of Israel provided in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of all, (31:5).
- He Makes Room for the Overflow of His Blessings in personal attachments… now emptied of clinging to the temporal.
- The sons of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of sacred gifts which were consecrated to the Lord their God, and placed them in heaps, (31:6).
- He Makes Room for the Overflow of His Blessings in indulgent self-centeredness… now emptied of bondage to possessions.
- Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the keeper of the eastern gate, was over the freewill offerings of God, to apportion the contributions for the Lord and the most holy things, (31:14).
- He Makes Room for the Overflow of His Blessings in the divisions of status… now emptied of partiality and preference.
- …to distribute faithfully their portions to their brothers by divisions, whether great or small, 16 without regard to their genealogical enrollment, (31:15-16).
- He Makes Room for the Overflow of His Blessings in individual pursuits… now emptied of self, so as to seek the Lord by faith, in everything.
- Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah; and he did what was good, right and true before the Lord his God. 21 Every work which he began in the service of the house of God in law and in commandment, seeking his God, he did with all his heart and prospered, (31:20-21).
How do we respond to Him Who Makes Room for the Overflow of His Blessings?
The Blessings of His Overflow were granted to one who served God wholeheartedly, seeking Him in his every endeavor. And Hezekiah must have been anticipating the Overflow; he had prepared rooms ready to receive it all.
Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare rooms in the house of the Lord, and they prepared them. 12 They faithfully brought in the contributions and the tithes and the consecrated things; (31:11-12).
We too must prepare for the Overflow of His Blessings. We do that when we come to Him in faith to partake of His invitation to drink of His Blessings, His invitation to be perpetually filled to Overflowing, with plenty left over.
Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14).
Today, let us humbly come to Him in prayer, asking and believing that His Eternal Living Water will flow to Overflowing as we trust Him to Make Room for the Overflow of His Blessings.
- Lord Jesus, please Make Room for the Overflow of Your Blessings in our polluted land… empty us of our idols, we pray.
- Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, (Colossians 3:5-6).
- Lord Jesus, please Make Room for the Overflow of Your Blessings in our conflicted hearts… empty us of our divided devotion, we pray.
- “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth,” (Luke 16:13).
- Lord Jesus, please Make Room for the Overflow of Your Blessings in our ill-advised aspirations… empty us of our holding back the best, we pray.
- Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship, (Romans 12:1).
- Lord Jesus, please Make Room for the Overflow of Your Blessings in our personal attachments… empty us of our clinging to the temporal, we pray.
- For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal, (1 Corinthians 4:17-18).
- Lord Jesus, please Make Room for the Overflow of Your Blessings in our indulgent self-centeredness… empty us of our bondage to possessions, we pray.
- And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:34-36).
- Lord Jesus, please Make Room for the Overflow of Your Blessings in our divisions of status… empty us of our partiality and preference, we pray.
- My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism…8 If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors, (James 2:1, 8-9).
- Lord Jesus, please Make Room for the Overflow of Your Blessings in our individual pursuits… empty us of ourselves, so as to wholeheartedly seek You by faith in everything; we pray and ask in Your Name. Amen.
- I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me, (Galatians 2:20).
- And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him, (Hebrews 11:6).
And Lord, as we partake of the generous Overflow of Your Blessings, please empty us of ourselves to Make Room for others. Grow us in You, Lord, and in our humility and commitment to Your Word of Truth, that Your Blessings to us would Overflow to others, as You did through Your servants, King Hezekiah and Abraham.
“…And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;” (Genesis 12:2).
Oh Lord, may we be a blessing to others, that they too would desire to know You; that others would place their faith and hope in what You alone can and will do, to Make Room for the Overflow of Your Blessings.
“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water,’” (John 7:39).