READING FOR FEBRUARY 11, 2026: 2 CHRONICLES 29, MATTHEW 8, PSALM 6                             2 CHRONICLES 29  With one simple statement, everything changed for the better for Judah: “Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old” (vs. 1).  We should never minimize the impact that one Godly leader, even a young one, can make on a seemingly lost cause. Unlike his wicked father, he did “everything right in the sight of the Lord,” in the same way David did.  Hezekiah chose as his model a king who lived 300 earlier, not some contemporary star. To put it in perspective, that would be like our doing worship and living out values practiced 50 years before the American Revolution because our contemporary standards had declined so much.

First, Hezekiah gathered all the full-time worship leaders together for a kind of a pregame talk. Sometimes those who are credentialed in ministry need this kind of direction. He placed the blame on their fathers, obviously including his own. They had allowed unclean objects to clutter the Holy Place and discontinued the sacrificial offerings God had commanded them to make. This caused God’s wrath, which led to the captivity of many of their people. Then he directed them to get to work on restoring the Temple so it could be used as God intended.

After making themselves ceremonially clean, they went about decluttering the holy place, repairing that which was damaged, replacing what was lost, and purifying everything. This whole process took 16 days, which seems quite quick. (Ever have a simple idea stuck in com- mittee for months/years?) They seemed pleased to report back to Hezekiah when the work was completed, as well they should have been. ARE WE THIS FAST IN OBEYING GOD?

The text says then Hezekiah got up early the next morning, obviously eager to bring back worship now that the Temple was restored. Not only did the burnt offerings resume, but Heze- kiah brought back the kinds of songs, singers, and accompanists David employed to support this worship. He researched centuries-old practices and recruited musicians accordingly. And what was the result? “So the assembly brought sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings, and everyone who was willing brought burnt offerings” (vs. 31). How did the people feel about it? “All the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the thing came about suddenly” (vs. 36). This writer is currently 71 years old and has never experienced a worship service according to the template given us by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14. Would following God’s Word in this New Covenant time bring about the same blessing that those experienced in Hezekiah’s time?

MATTHEW 8 As has been mentioned earlier, during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus raised the standard of holy living considerably from the Old Testament law. Perhaps we think today we cannot ask too much of our congregation or guests who are exploring Christianity. It says in verse 1, though, that great multitudes followed Him as he descended from the mountain after this extremely challenging sermon. Maybe it would be better to call people to Kingdom great--ness than to worry about scaring new attenders away by making too many spiritual demands. 

READING FOR FEBRUARY 11, 2026 CONTINUED: MATTHEW 8, PSALM 6

As Jesus left the mountain, he engaged in three episodes involving healing:

• A leper approached Jesus, correctly stating that Jesus could heal if He was willing—a great insight. Jesus confirmed this by healing the man. Jesus in turn had a task for the man: don’t tell anyone about the healing but present an offering to the priest as a testimony to them. Perhaps this underlined his previous statement about coming not to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matt. 5:17). 
• As Jesus entered Capernaum, which would serve as his base of operations, a Roman centurion approached. He was part of an occupying force. (This episode also appears in Luke 7 with some key differences. These differences deserve analysis but will be better addressed during the study of Luke.) Again, the centurion had remarkably good insight about Jesus—much better than the religious leader- ship (often the case today). The centurion made a masterful analogy comparing his position as a man under authority and also having complete authority over 100 soldiers with Jesus’s complete authority over natural forces, such as illness. Thus, Jesus healed the centurion’s servant remotely, not even traveling to the scene. Jesus used this opportunity to prophesy about the worldwide family in the King- dom. This has certainly come true. The locations of greatest Christian activity now are South America, Africa, Asia. Let’s also pray for places of declining activity: North America, Europe, and Australia.
• Then Jesus arrived at Peter’s house and noticed that Peter’s mother-in-law was sick. Jesus touched her and her fever left. An interesting detail is that she immediately arose from bed to serve Jesus. This is a great reminder that when we are healed or receive any blessing from God, we have the opportunity to respond by immediately serving God.

The healings Jesus performed are a fulfillment of Isaish’s prophecy that “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.”  Some Bible teachers believe that such healings no longer take place after the period of the Apostles. Many others suggest there is no Biblical reason for miracles not to occur today and in fact do in places of more dynamic faith. Talking

about lacking dynamic faith, Jesus pointed out two such cases in this chapter:

• One of his disciples asked if he could follow Jesus after his father was buried, possibly waiting for an indetermined amount of time until his father died. 
• Other disciples experienced a storm while in a boat and thought they were perishing. 

In both cases, Jesus rebuked his disciples. He wants us to go all in now following Him, not fearing the obstacles. Do we have reasons for holding back in serving Jesus? It’s not likely to be more convenient later. A third example is an outright rejection. An entire city asked Jesus to leave. Pray that we and those we love won’t ask Jesus to leave. It’s possible to do so by the choices we make without realizing we are rejecting our only hope in this life and the next. 

PSALM 6 Rather than considering content this time, let’s think about poetic structure. In C. S. Lewis’s book on the Psalms, he mentions that the poetic technique used most often in the Psalms is parallelism. In each verse the Psalmist writes a brief phrase then immediately afterwards repeats content that means the same but with different words. In Psalm 6:1 we read, “Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger,” followed by a short phrase that means the same: “Nor discipline me in Your wrath.”  Psalm 6:2 starts with, “Be gracious to me, Lord, for I am frail,” followed by the similar “Heal me, Lord, for my bones are horrified.” Lewis mentions that this repetition is great for remembering but also fortunately works well when translated to any language. We need to remember to interpret these Psalms as poetry. Also, consider God’s anger/wrath. What is it?