“Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.” (2Ch 29:10 AV)
Hezekiah was a great king. He made a super wrong choice toward the end of his life, but the LORD used him to bring a great revival to Judah. Hezekiah did more to bring revival to Judah than any of his predecessors. The entire nation got right with God and because of this, God blessed both the king and the nation. When Syria came out against them, God sent an angel of the LORD that defeated the entire Syrian army without one Judean ever going to the battlefield. God blessed Hezekiah with a son when he had given up hope of ever having one. The temple was restored to its former glory and the first Passover in a generation was observed. There was such a great revival, that there weren’t enough priests to slay the sacrifices and the gifts and tithes exceeded the ability to store it all. All this came to pass because of the verse above. The reader can sense the complete resoluteness in the king’s statement. He may not have known the details of what he wished for, but he was willing to commit anyway. It was in his heart to commit to the LORD that things might change for the better. Revival cannot come without a resolute commitment to that which God desires.
My wife has cancer. This type of cancer has modified her diet quite a bit. What that means is she is allowed to have more carbs than if she was trying to shed a few pounds. She is losing weight despite an increase in carbs. This may be good for her, but bad for me. We have candy, bread, and snacks all over the place. My dear wife can eat high-calorie foods because they do not stay in long enough to add pounds. I, on the other hand, have increased two suit sizes. I do not look forward to my doctor’s appointment next month. I can already hear him tell me my weight gain is not a good thing. So, to try to get a handle on it, we were thinking of signing up for Noom. Noom is a weight loss program that relies more on the psychology of weight gain rather than a program that centers on mere numbers. The thing is, you have to pay three months upfront before they give you access. For me, I would like to try it for a month to see if it is something that would work for me. But they require three months. And for good reason. They know unless there is a commitment to their program, it will be ineffective. They require the subject to be determined in their heart to weight loss. The best way is to require a longer commitment than is usually offered. It has to be a matter of the heart before it can be a matter of the will.
This was where Hezekiah found himself. He looked at his nation and knew God was not pleased. He read in the law all they had failed to do and it was only a matter of time before the LORD acted in judgment. He knew that if he did not do something, his nation was going down. Therefore, in the desperation of the times, he found it in his heart to commit to whatever the LORD would have him do. If revival comes, it must come at the point of a resolute decision. That decision results in a commitment. That commitment is open-ended. Whatever it is that God wants from us, He must have. Everything must be on the table. Until we come to the end of ourselves and our hearts are attracted more to the things of this world than a serious relationship with our Creator, then revival cannot come. The heart must decide what it wants to love the most. Like getting married. We loved our spouses when we wed. But the love we have three and a half decades later is far more significant. Why? Because we determined many years ago to love our spouse with all our hearts. We committed to a relationship even though we may not have known all that this would require at the moment we took the vow. The same is true with our relationship with God. God is waiting for us to make an open-ended commitment based on our heart’s desire to love Him with our whole heart, mind, soul, and body.
P.S. For the month of April, the individual who can influence the most to become a follower of this blog will earn a $20 gift card. When they become a follower, simply have them leave a comment letting me know it was you who encouraged them and you could be the winner. Results will be published at the end of the month.
No comments:
Post a Comment