“And Hezekiah gave encouragement to all the Levites who taught the good knowledge of the Lord, and they ate throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings and making confession to the Lord God of their fathers.”
2 Chronicles 30:22
There was great revival among the people of Judah in this day. The Passover had been reinstituted and the people worshipped the Lord with much song and gladness of heart. The priests and the Levites were going a great job in all their responsibilities in the temple. There was so much joy in celebrating the Feast of Unleavened Bread that the leaders and people decided to extend everything another seven days. During this time King Hezekiah pulled the Levites aside to encourage them as they taught the people about the Lord. The word “encouragement” means that he spoke to them from the heart — warm, sincere, honest, heart-felt words.
If there is one thing a leader must do is to consistently bring encouragement to his team. It seems strange that Hezekiah brought words of encouragement and praise when things were going very well. Yet, this is probably the most critical time to do so. It is when things are going well that the devil is doing his best to disrupt things and one of his greatest weapons against men of God is discouragement. Hezekiah knew that it was important to keep the momentum of revival going and this would only happen as the men of God continued to do the work of God and keep the people seeking the Lord.
The encouragement came with heart-felt words, not a sermon, not mere instruction, but with the care and transparent love of one leader to a team. When we open up our hearts to our team it will show how much we really care, that we are not just interested in using them, but that we really do care for them personally.
Personal encouragement from a leader will carry his team a great distance and help them overcome any discouragement or fatigue. They need to know that they are doing well, for the voice of satan is ever there to discourage. Make a habit of encouraging those whom God has given you to lead.
What can you do today to encourage those whom God had placed in your care?
