2 Chronicles 28:3 Infamous Ahaz —incredibly! indulged in the outrageous practice of "passing his sons through the fire." That is unbelievable. Verse 19 says: Arrogant King Ahaz, acting as if he could do without God's help, had unleashed an epidemic of depravity. I have been thinking a lot about our moral choices. We read the Charity chapter in Mere Christianity in class on Friday. When I led the discussion, one student responded that Lewis' words proved "love is a choice." But we must always allow God to reveal the motives and intentions of our hearts as we love. Sin is way more than just making a wrong choice to not love or do the wrong thing.
Along comes King Hezekiah who made some unbelievable choices to bring Passover back. 2 Chronicles 29:10. "In God's opinion, He was a good king---and isn't that all that counts! His dad had discarded God---oh my! What courage showed by this son! Hezekiah did more than clean out the cobwebs of the temple. He cleaned out the mess of his own heart first then invited by command his followers to do the same. Clean your hearts. I love 2 Chronicles 29:19, 20. Hezekiah prayed that God would forgive all those who seriously desire God but had not met His conditions. God heard his prayer and responded and healed the people. Makes me so want to pray that verse the next time I walk into my church for those there who so desire our God but are floundering. He made a choice to turn history around...and he did. Good choices. Bad choices. Is life just about choosing the right things? I just keep thinking about that.
It brings to mind a quote from Crabb: "Sin is more than wrong choices, more than bad behavior, more than wrong understanding. And it is not a reaction to felt need that deserves tender compassion and patience. Sin cannot be explained, but it can be defined. Sin is defiantly walking past the living water God provides in relationship with Himself and proudly digging wells with one's own resources in the futile and foolish hope of providing for oneself the water needed for a meaningful and secure life." Jeremiah 2:9 -13
John Piper calls it "sweet idolatries in which the longing heart embraces the wrong satsifaction." What are my deep satisfactions this night? Is it my children responding right to me? Is it my husband not "missing" me? Is it my friends responding like I want them to? Is it my God coming through for me? What do I most want?
I'll end this way-too-long post with 2 Chronicles 30:27 cause I can't resist! What Hezekiah did was such a beautiful thing! The priests and Levites had the last word: they stood and blessed the people. And God listened, listened as the ascending sound of their prayers entered his holy heaven. And just the same, HE is listening to you right now. I wonder if He hears an ascending sound this night from our world? Incredible that He's listening if we are serious about our desires for God.
PHOTO: Mindy, my friend of 48 years. No one knows me any better. Fully loved and accepted. Surprise visit to Irvine California. Could not have gone any better after nine years of not knowing if it would.
These verses stood out to me today:
ReplyDeleteHezekiah and the congregation celebrated: God had established a firm foundation for the lives of the people—and so quickly!
Hezekiah’s prayer: “May God who is all good, pardon and forgive everyone who sincerely desires God, the God of our ancestors. Even—especially!—these who do not meet the literal conditions stated for access to the Temple"
“Everything he (Hezekiah) took up, whether it had to do with worship in God's Temple or the carrying out of God's Law and Commandments, he did well in a spirit of prayerful worship. He was a great success”
“Your God is gracious and kind and won't snub you—come back and he'll welcome you with open arms."
Beautiful words to this weary traveler today—return! Come back to Jesus. He won’t snub me. I have started a lot of prayers lately, but something stops me from asking for help the last few weeks. I feel I have no right to ask, so I start, then rebuke myself and believe I need to “suffer the consequences” of a particular sin. I then try in my own power to resolve it each day, and, of course, it isn’t happening. I’ve been “digging my own wells” futilely. Today, I am praying differently, asking my real Strength, my Christ Jesus to put me on firm footing again. And I will remember His goodness.
What a good example in the Word today of Hezekiah. May we all worship and carry out God’s Law in a spirit of prayerful worship! And may our God who is all good, who listens from heaven, establish a firm foundation for our lives in Him quickly!
29:7 - In what ways do I "board up the doors, turn out the lights and cancel the acts of worship"? I need make sure I am clean from the inside out and empty the junk that defiles.
ReplyDelete30:9 - Our God is gracious and compassionate and will not turn His face from us if(when) we return to Him. He welcomes us with open arms.
Two things: Clean the inside of this temple and then offer myself in worship and service. "Be" before I "behave." As Bev keeps reminding us: not just confession but communion with our God from our innermost being.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Jeremiah quote. Reminds me of Crabb's book, Inside Out. He showed me it was okay to be thirsty...just go to the Living Water to quench it. No more cistern-digging. Wish it wouldn't take a lifetime for me to learn this!
"You must live now in the tension between anguish and hope." (pg.5 66LL)
Reading about Hezekiah gave me hope.
FG
I liked that part about the celebration stopping and then starting again all over, Annette.
ReplyDeleteAs I read about how it took them 8 days to clean the temple, I thought about how much cleaning the our temple needs.
What is God calling us to clean out of our temple?
I hope I don't hurt anyone here, but have any of you noticed how some people treat their pets better than they treat people in their lives? I guess I could see that if it was the one cow you had to give you milk every day.
Our priorities are whacked when our animals receive all of our tenderness and everyone else gets our leftovers.
Clothing...Anyone besides me tired of seeing so much cleavage?
How do we prioritize family desires? Can we be too independent as modern women today?
Just pondering a few things outloud. Cleaning up our temple. Wish you all would share what that means to you.