In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them. – 2 Chronicles 29:3

Today's Scripture Reading (June 3, 2026): 2 Chronicles 29

If you were given the power to change something for just one day, what would you want to change? Often, people running for political office try to tell us what they would do on their first day, as a way of telling us what they would want to do, even if they only held power for just a single day. These first-day aspirations make an interesting list of achievements. Of course, politicians of every stripe often overpromise what they can do on that first day. So, sometimes it is interesting to look back and see what they actually accomplished on Day One of their political term.

For Bill Clinton, Day One was actually Day Two, and one of the most significant things he did was reverse the so-called "Mexico City Policy, a Ronald Reagan-era policy that placed a ban on abortion counseling through federally funded clinics. Clinton also reinstated scientific research on fetal tissue.

It is perhaps not surprising that, during the first week of his presidency, George W. Bush reversed Bill Clinton's Day Two actions, reinstating the "Mexico City Policy." Sometimes, I wonder if this is all presidents do: try to erase the legacy of those who have gone before.

Barack Obama's term also started on Day Two when he reversed the Bush-era policy that restricted public access to presidential records. Of course, one of the most significant things achieved during his time as President of the United States was an attempt at Universal Health Care, often referred to as the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare." Obamacare becomes important because it will become the target of another President's Day One action. On Day One of Donald Trump's first term as President, President Trump instructed his agencies to take down Obamacare to the "maximum extent of the Law." It foreshadowed the extent of the effort that President Trump would spend on erasing President Obama's policies.

Joe Biden came into office during the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is not surprising that on his First Day he signed orders mandating mask wearing and freezing debt collection for federal Student Loans. He also began the process of rejoining the Paris Climate Accords and the World Health Organization, reversing the actions taken by his predecessor, Donald Trump. 

On Day One of President Trump's Second term, he basically reversed everything that Joe Biden had done during his four years in office. The Executive Order that Donald Trump signed on Day One was titled "Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions." The Order reversed 78 Biden-era executive orders, most of which dealt with diversity, equity, and Inclusion and climate change.

We don't know what King Hezekiah did on his first day, but one of the first things he did was begin restoring the Temple, which had been neglected by his father, King Ahaz. And that restoration began with the doors of the Temple, so that people could once more enter the courts and priests could minister before God in His Temple, something that had not been a priority for the past sixteen years, as King Ahaz had led the nation in a different direction.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 30