A Father’s Greatest Gift
Reflective Reading: 2 Chronicles 30
I only wish he was still here. Not many sons get to have a dad like my dad. He was far from perfect, but, oh did I love him, admire him, and respect him; and, how he loved me!
Everyone loved my dad. I wish there was time for me to tell you all the stories. He was an amazing leader, strong but gentle. He didn’t follow the crowd—they followed him. But as great as my dad was, three significant things in his life were missing—a personal relationship with Jesus, humility, and prayer.
My dad was a 32nd degree Shriner. With a minimal education, he rose to be the superintendent of a major Iron Workers company. He built nuclear power plants, draw bridges, and towers. He was known throughout the industry. If anybody could build it, A.J. could. My dad was very proud of his accomplishments, and if anyone had a right to be so, he did. But, all of the accomplishments in the world won’t get you to heaven.
Thankfully, my dad came to know Jesus just four months before he died—through reading several Lamplighter books: The Basket of Flowers, Throw Me Overboard, and Christie’s Old Organ. He said to me before he died that he was going to “home-sweet-home,” a quote from Christie’s Old Organ. I look forward to seeing him again soon!
Growing up, my dad didn’t have an easy childhood. His mother died when he was 12, and his father…well, let’s just say that my dad didn’t have an easy life. He had every reason to turn out bad. Maybe that is why my dad reminds me so much of King Hezekiah. Hezekiah and my dad had a lot in common. They both accomplished amazing feats of engineering, and both had difficult childhoods.
Hezekiah’s childhood was worse beyond imagination. He was brought up by a very evil father. His father, King Ahaz, sacrificed Hezekiah’s older brother in order to appease a false god. God characterizes Ahaz as a despicable person. So how does a child, like Hezekiah, with a father like Ahaz, turn out to be one of the greatest and godliest kings ever? Listen to what the author of the book of Kings says about Hezekiah:
“[Hezekiah] did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made…He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him; and he prospered…”
What was it about Hezekiah that brought so many blessings? If you read 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, you will find that Hezekiah’s greatest assets were his prayerfulness and humility. In fact, it was because of his prayers that he and his people experienced the greatest joy that had ever been experienced before. In 2 Chronicles 30:26 we read:
“So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.”
In the last verse of chapter 30 we read how their prayer, through Hezekiah’s influence, came all the way to the holy habitation of heaven! Fathers, God delights in answering our prayers. If we ask, we shall receive. Over the past few years I’ve been praying more than I’ve ever prayed before, and the answers to these prayers are beyond any shadow of doubt—answers to prayer!
We do need to be reminded, however, that if we regard iniquity in our heart, God will not hear us. So there’s a serious side of prayer that we can’t forget. If we have unconfessed sins, then we need to humble ourselves, confess our sin (pray), and move on! When Hezekiah prayed, it was his humility that got God’s attention. Does this mean that if we humble ourselves and pray that all of our problems will disappear? They may not disappear, but God will give you the grace and joy to walk through them; just as he did with Hezekiah.
Sadly, at the end of Hezekiah’s life, he forgot about the two main qualities that helped him be so successful. He traded his humility for pride while showing the Babylonian envoy his house. Then, when faced with a terminal illness, Hezekiah prayed, and God answered him by giving him an additional 15 years to live. But sadly, we read:
“Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 32:25).
Thankfully, Hezekiah quickly realized his prideful and prayerless error, and in the next verse we read:
“Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.”
Though he did humble himself, there appears to be an area of his life that is neglected, for during those additional 15 years, Hezekiah had a son. His son Manasseh became the wickedest king of all the kings of Israel and Judah. God was so angry with Hezekiah’s son that he sent the king of Assyria to take him to Babylon into captivity. With fish hooks in his nose, Manasseh would walk as a slave to Babylon.
Thankfully, the story doesn’t end here. While Manasseh is in a Babylonian prison, it appears that he remembers something significant about his father’s life. You guessed it! In 2 Chronicles 33:13 we read:
“And when [Manasseh] was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.”
And there’s more. Just before this chapter ends in 2 Chronicles 33:18,19 we read:
“Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, behold, they are in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. And his prayer, and how God was moved by his entreaty, and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites on which he built high places and set up the Asherim and the images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the Chronicles of the Seers.”
Though Hezekiah wasn’t perfect, it would seem that Manasseh either saw first hand or at least heard about his father’s humility and prayer. That is the legacy we want to leave our children. Dad, on this Father’s Day, there may be no greater gift that we can give to our children than these two examples. They are watching…and thankfully, God is listening!
Sincerely,
Mark Hamby
M.S., M. Div., Th. M., D. Min.
Recommended Reading:
Jessica’s First Prayer (Ages 6+)
Christie’s Old Organ (Ages 6+)
Tip Lewis and His Lamp (Ages 9+)
Ned Franks: the One-Armed Sailor (Ages 12+)
