By Steve Carpenter

King David asked a great question in one of his songs. In Psalm 11:3, he asks, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

This seven verse Psalm begins with David expressing His trust in the Lord. That’s always a good place to start. His current earthly reality, however, is one of an eroding national foundation and the identification of enemies lurking in the darkness with bad intentions. Sound familiar? Instead of looking down and all around, David looks up and sees the Lord in His holy temple and upon His throne in heaven. David knows that the Lord sees, the Lord knows, and the Lord distinguishes between the righteous and the wicked — and both have a day of reckoning coming.

National turnarounds are not impossible. If you will allow me, I’d like to draw your attention back in history a bit. Actually, it’s way back in history, to the history of Judah and Jerusalem during the years 716–687 BCE. You can find the whole account described in 2 Chronicles 27:22 - 31:21.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND

Basically, things were pretty bad in Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah was in real bad shape. A guy named Ahaz was the reigning King and he was a real knucklehead. It was said of him that, “In the time of his distress, he became increasingly unfaithful to the Lord.” How would you like that reputation? When he got stressed out, he abandoned his faithfulness to God, closed the churches, stopped the worship services and started building altars to other gods. People make pretty dumb decisions when they are stressed out. Ahaz thought, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” The biblical account describes the result of these dumb decisions in this way, "But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.” Ahaz soon died and his son, Hezekiah, became King and reigned in his place.

KING HEZEKIAH’S SEVEN DEFINING DECISIONS

Hezekiah’s name means, God is my strength. He was twenty-nine years old when he became king, and the decisions he made turned the nation around. I believe that the decisions he made are proven kingdom protocols for national awakening and revival.

Here’s what Hezekiah did:

He made the condition of God’s house a priority.

In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them.

He gathered the spiritual leaders together and commissioned them to properly prepare a place for God.

Then he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them in the East Square, and said to them: "Hear me, Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place.”

He makes a connection between the consecration of God’s people and the condition of our culture.

For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the Lord our God; they have forsaken Him, have turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and turned their backs on Him. They have also shut up the doors of the vestibule, put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. Therefore the wrath of the Lord fell upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has given them up to trouble, to desolation, and to jeering, as you see with your eyes. For indeed, because of this our fathers have fallen by the sword; and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us.

He challenges the people of God to pray.

My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should minister to Him and burn incense. And they gathered their brethren, sanctified themselves, and went according to the commandment of the king, at the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.

He brings leaders together to sacrifice and invest in the purposes of God.

Then King Hezekiah rose early, gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. Then he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.

He released a new wave of worship.

And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king's seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for thus was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets. The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. Then Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord also began, with the trumpets and with the instruments of David king of Israel. So all the assembly worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. And when they had finished offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed and worshiped.

He called the entire nation to return to the Lord.

And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel. Then the runners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his leaders, and spoke according to the command of the king: "Children of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.”

THE IMPACT OF THESE INITIATIVES

The results of these seven defining decisions of King Hezekiah were that the nation rose up and destroyed the places of idol worship, they provided financially for the spiritual leaders to continue their work, and they experienced an extremely high level of spiritual blessing and material prosperity in their lives.

It was said of this time that, “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. Then the priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard; and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.”

2 Chronicles 31:20-21 state, “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.”

Here’s what I’m thinking: if it happened before, it can happen again. If we follow bible revelation, we can have bible results. The fate of nations actually rests in the hearts and hands of God’s people.

I’ll end with this for now. God did not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah just because of their sin, He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because there was no righteous remnant there. Through the inquiries and intercessions of Abraham, God actually said that He would spare the people and would not destroy the city if there were but ten righteous found there. You can read all about it in Genesis 18:16-33.

It’s time for the remnant to rise.