Daily Devotions
Heart Restoration
Title: Heart Restoration
Reading for May 17: 2 Chronicles 35-36
The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy.
2 Chronicles 36:15-16
That's a sad ending to the story told in 2 Chronicles. We hit such a high note with Josiah finding the book of the Law, the destruction of idolatry, and the reinstitution of the Passover.
It didn't last. That's the problem with our attempts at restoration sometimes. We are inconsistent. Like fireworks going off in the dark night sky it is a brilliant display of light, but the light goes out quickly. The restoration of Josiah was short lived. It didn't have staying power.
Jeremiah gives us a clue as to why that was. Prophesying during the days of Josiah, the LORD spoke through Jeremiah saying, "Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD." (Jer 3:10)
Does that describe you? Are you having a hard time sustaining any kind of a restoration to God because it is not with your whole heart?
Half-hearted restoration is not restoration at all. It looks good for a while but it won't last. It's an all or nothing proposition. If we're in with God we've got to be all in with him. Part of the way or most of the way won't do it.
Father, sanctify our whole heart that we might be fully restored to what you would have us to be!
