The Healing of a Humble Heart - 2 Chron 30:18-20 Yesterday we touched on the reign of King Hezekiah, and the reforms he instituted in Israel, one of which was to lead the people in the Passover Feast. The Passover was one of the feasts proscribed by God that the nation was to partake of each year (interestingly, the Passover is a beautiful picture of Christ's death on the cross, if you're interested CLICK HERE to read about it) When Hezekiah put out the word, many of the Jews laughed it off, and refused to come to Jerusalem, but some humbled themselves and made the journey (verses 10-11).
Now the Jews were to instructed purify themselves before partaking the Passover meal, but some of the people that came that year were not able to do so. But rather than exclude these people from the Passover, Hezekiah did something out of the box: He prayed and asked the Lord to pardon them.
Most of those who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not purified themselves. But King Hezekiah prayed for them, and they were allowed to eat the Passover meal anyway, even though this was contrary to the requirements of the Law. For Hezekiah said, "May the Lord, who is good, pardon those who decide to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors, even though they are not properly cleansed for the ceremony." And the Lord listened to Hezekiah's prayer and healed the people. 2 Chron 30:18-20
I can hear the legalists now, "They can't do that! It's against the law!" And, they would be right. It was against the law. So why did God allow it?
Well, I cannot claim to know the mind of God, but I do know this: God cares more about healing people than them following rules. I think of Mark 3, when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. I think of Ps 15:17,
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise. Ps 51:17
This tells me that no matter what my current situation, no matter how dirty I've gotten, that I can come before the Lord with a humble heart, and He will heal me. In other words, we don't have the clean up before we come to God! God does the cleansing.
Friend, don't let your current state keep you from coming to God. Come before Him with a humble heart, pray and ask Him to heal you, and just like in Hezekiah's day, God will listen to your prayer, and He will cleanse you and heal you.
"Lord, I know that I am far from your standard of righteousness. All I can do is come before you with my humble heart, and my dirty hands, and ask you to cleanse me and heal me."
Pastor Clay | 
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