Lately, my husband (whom I love) and I have been reading through the books of Kings (1 and 2) and Chronicles (1 and 2) as we read the Chronological Bible (highly recommend it). As we've been doing so, something has stuck out to me (a nudge, perhaps?). For the most part, we have been going through the kings of Israel and Judah and the Bible categorizes the kings, usually as "he did evil in the eyes of the Lord" or "he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord". But, a couple of times, there is an additional clarification. The most recent occurrence of this in our reading was in 2 Chronicles 25:2, where it says, "He (the king Amaziah) did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly."
Wholeheartedly. Hmmm....
It's interesting because there is a distinction when you look at the instances where "wholeheartedly" or similar wording occurs, such as here with Amaziah and earlier with Jehu (who "did right" in eyes of God in 2 Kings 10:30 but one verse later in 2 Kings 10:31, "was not careful to keep the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart"). These men are blessed by God for doing what is right, but there is also either discipline given to them or a lack of further blessing for not continuing wholeheartedly. For Amaziah, 2 Chronicles 25:27 tells us that from the time Amaziah turned away from the Lord, others conspired against him, and he was eventually killed. In Jehu's case, his descendants sit on the throne for four more generations but it seems that Israel's reduction in size is partly due to his lack of wholeheartedness. Now, both of these men seemed to turn away from God, so maybe some of the meaning from the original Hebrew has been lost (I'm not a scholar and will not attempt to do that study here--it is beyond the purpose of this post). But I wonder if we shouldn't also consider our hearts? Are we following God wholeheartedly?
Am I merely following the ways of the Bible because that's what I have been taught to do or is my heart in it--fully in it? 1 Chronicles 28:9 tells us to "acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever." I wonder if some of the times that we feel "far" from God if we haven't lost some of our heart to something else.
Perhaps this is where it is important to ask God to search our hearts and lead us into right ways (Psalm 139). Because I don't think we can objectively search our own hearts nor know how to get back into wholehearted obedience on our own. So this is my prayer--that God would search my heart and help me to love and serve Him wholeheartedly.
Labels: Nudgling
Is our heart fully engaged in our worship? And not just on Sunday but on all days?
Lord, teach us to worship--not just of the rules taught by men, but the way You would have us worship.