31:1 All of Judah and the remnant of Israel cleared the kingdom of Judah of idol carvings and altars. They made a concentrated effort to remove idolatry from their lifestyle. In our present time, the removal of idol worship looks quite different but is the same in nature. For us, it often means to remove elements of media from our lives and to disengage from the consumerist, celebrity culture our world society.
Judah's removal of the false-god altars was their way of clearing space to make room for the true God. In their hearts and their lives, they wanted their natural and default reverence to go to God. Humans are influenced by their surroundings; but creating a culture of faith and surrounding ourselves with things which reflect and uphold God's philosophy, we stabilize ourselves in Him. We cannot always help what we hear or see but we can create an atmosphere which causes those things to be analyzed and filtered by our faith before they influence and transform our mind.
31:2-3 Hezekiah organized the divisions of what essentially was an early church. The king of Judah even gave his own possessions as offerings to God; his faith was not hypocritical, he gave much in service of his faith and love for God. He believed, he taught but most of all he walked it. Our most effective influence in life is our own example.
31:4 From the start, God had organized a system in which teachers of His word were supported by the society they served. In history, that system has been quite drastically abused but it was constructed, initially, in innocence. For example, the apostle Paul's entire life was to preach and travel; he was never in one place long enough to even have a job. God wanted anyone who humbly and wholeheartedly taught His word to be able to focus solely on it and the students.
31:5-6 The children of Israel were motivated and organized by Hezekiah to explore their faith. They faithfully gathered and brought the best of their harvests to tithe in gratitude to God. They began to understand the two-way nature of their relationship with God.
31:7-10 Heaps of offerings to God were collected. Heaps! What do we, today, give in heaps to God? The "first-fruits" of our generation are love, attention and compassion. If we give in heaps to God the best of ourselves (our devotion, our effort, our time), He is eager through those things, to give back to us.
31:11-15 Faithful men of God distributed to Him the heaps the children of Judah and Israel had brought to Him. How beautiful would it be, at the culmination of our lives on earth, to meet God in heaven and distribute to Him all the we collected for Him? The smiles, the laughter, the friendships we create and gather in His name on earth are offerings to Him. The patience we travel lengths to possess is a journey we embarked on for Him. What we gave to others, we collected for Him, Matthew 25:40. Make it to heaven with heaps for God.
31:16-18 The abundance of the tithes allowed for the administrators and their families to be provided for. The nature of God is bountiful. He gives bountifully and He inspires others to give and live bountifully. God's generosity ensures that His children and filled to bursting with love and joy and wonder, peace and rest and hope.
31:19 Everyone who worked arduously and faithfully was compensated for their effort. This is symbolic, God appreciates our holy work. What we do in humility, He blesses with exaltation.
31:20-21 Hezekiah worked tirelessly to restore Judah to their true God, and to all that He represents. Read verses 20-21 with this particular emphasis to viscerally understand its beauty:
Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart.
So he prospered.Thus, therefore, inevitably he prospered because He sought good with all his heart! The success and restoration of Judah was due in entirety to their commitment to God and His response. What a summation of a life! Imagine your name written and then followed by those verses.
