July 19th, 20

JULY 19,  Clear out the Junk

II Chronicles 29 - 31 and James 4

In James 4:10 we hear these words:

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

Hezekiah was someone who lived this out. He humbled himself before the Lord.  At last, we see in Hezekiah, a good king in Judah.  He was a king who sought to humble himself before God.  And because of this, God gave him great success.  A revival broke out and the nation was restored in worship of the Lord their God - the God of their ancestors.  Things went well for Hezekiah because he humbled himself before God.  

But humility doesn’t just happen to us.  Humility takes some effort on our part.  At the beginning of chapter 29, Hezekiah says:  

Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and purify the Temple of the LORD, the God of your ancestors. Remove all the defiled things from the sanctuary. (II Chron 29:4 NLT)

They needed to clear out the temple and restore worship of the Lord their God.  It took 16 days to clear out all the junk that was in the temple so that they could finally get to the altar to begin worshipping.  It took 16 days to clear out the junk! It took some work!  They had to humble themselves.

This is something we have to do, too. There is junk that needs to be cleared out.  We need to bow our own hearts.  We need to begin to see our own faults and folly and recognize the consequences that are at our door, because of our failure to humble ourselves.  

That’s something we can do today. We can come humbly to God each day as we come to the word and recognize that there are many desires that battle within us, desires battles for pride, recognition, revenge, pleasures, shortcuts, ill-gotten gain. But we can come to the Word and heed these words from James:  

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (Jms 4:7-8 NLT)

We can confront these temptations that threaten our loyalty to God.  James says that when we humble ourselves he lift us up in honor.  We are in a battle. The temptation is to begin to store up junk that stands between us and the altar, between us and God’s presence, between us and freedom.  We begin to store up junk there and before you know it, it takes 16 days to clear it all out. But there is a way forward. We can purify and humble our hearts before God, and do the work necessary, to clear out the junk that’s blocking the way.  When we do that, we will receive God’s kindness.  He will lift us up, and in honor, no less!  Unbelievable!  He honors us for clearing away the things that stand in the way, and returning to Him in worship.

Begin this day by taking the actions necessary to remove anything that stands between you and God’s presence, between you and His altar.  Its an altar that we are instructed to come boldly and confidently to.  

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. (Heb 4:16 NLT)

You’ve been given the power to humble yourself and come to him, removing anything that stands in the way, through the power of Christ in you.  

You are loved!