This is what we need . . .

2 Chronicles 29; Zechariah 11; John 14; Revelation 15

In 2 Chronicles, readers are told how paganism had grabbed hold of God’s people to the point that temple service no longer existed. The temple was full of junk and even the doors were ruined. Hezekiah became king at this point. He was only twenty-five years old. In his first year on the throne, he fixed the doors and instructed  the priests and Levites to consecrate themselves and clean up the mess, repair the temple and avert the wrath of God. This was not about ritual but about the sad alienation of God from the hearts of priests, Levites, people, and king alike. All were entirely alienated from God. Hezekiah’s intention was to reverse this pattern. He said, “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us.” (2 Chronicles 29:10)

The details follow telling how the priests and Levites rallied. David’s musical instruments were restored to use and there was a genuine repentance and return to the Lord . . .

“ . . . . Thus the service of the house of the Lord was restored. And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had provided for the people, for the thing came about suddenly.” (2 Chronicles 29:35–36)

Before reading this, I was praying for the church in North America, for the idolatry and worldly living in many of God’s people. After reading this, I wept.

We need this kind of genuine revival. We need leaders whose “prophetic insistence proves irresistible” first to their congregations and then to all the people. We need such a working of God than when it happens, we look back and marvel at the power of God and the speed at which He has done a great thing to change hearts and restore us to a rightful relationship with Him.

Zechariah 11 tells of unfaithful shepherds and God’s wrath leading to their destruction. Will that happen these days also? In John 11, Jesus declares three times that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments, even that “whoever believes in me will do the works that I do; and greater works that these will he do . . . whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 11:12-14) Where are those great works, those outstanding Christlike lives? What trials must we endure before we wake up and realize that God is calling us to repair the broken and junked up hearts in which He dwells?

APPLY: I am burdened in heart. My life falls short. So do the lives of most of God’s family. Some of us are aware; some are totally oblivious. We need the Holy Spirit power of God to fall on us, wake us up, help us realize our need for whole-hearted commitment, and grant deep repentance and deep sorrow for sin. I cannot change others — I cannot change even myself, but God can do it, and it is to that end that I lift up my prayers.