This morning, 2 Chronicles 12:14 jumped out at me…
“And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.”
This verse comes from the story of King Rehoboam (son of King Solomon) during the time of his reign.
And I thought…
Evil is all around us in the atmosphere, in hearts… and it’s constantly knocking at the door of our own hearts…
None of us in our own strength are “immune” to the effects of evil.
I mean, look at what Jeremiah 17:9 says…
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”
But God calls out to us,
He calls us to Himself,
He calls us that we might turn toward Him…that we might see and know how wonderful He really is. ?☀️
He directs our hearts to Himself, He shows us the path, that we may turn and come to Him.
But we must turn, we must seek Him…
We must humble ourselves and fear Him,
…and we must allow Him to do the preparation work in our hearts that so desperately needs to be done.
The word “prepare” means…
“to put together, to produce, to arrange, to develop, to assemble, to make ready for use…”
It also means…
“to train, to practice, to study, to teach, to instruct, to coach, to discipline, to prime, to guide, to steady, to strengthen, to fortify, to equip…”
It takes Him to do the preparation work in our hearts, and it takes us with our hearts turned and opened before Him, and to remain in a state of “preparedness” —a readiness and determination with a passion to seek Him…
And this only grows with relationship with Him. This begins to flourish into something far more beautiful than we ever imagined for our lives!
I remember a vision I had in the night a few years ago…
And it was simply hearing this along with seeing an image:
“Dust the cobwebs off your heart.”
And at first I was like, “Me, Lord? Me??” haha Yes, me.
And I believe what He was showing me was that He was about to do a new, transformative work in my heart—to get ready for that, to prepare for that.
He was readying me for that work, and I was also to do my own “preparation” by turning to Him and seeking Him. ?
He prepares the way for our hearts to come closer toward His heart…
But we must also invite Him into our hearts, to welcome Him in, to humble ourselves, to realize how much we need Him…
And He hears our cry…
He leads us into a life of Him being our Savior and our Deliverer—time and time and time again…and our lives begin to flourish with Him. ?
“LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear…”—Psalm 10:17
“Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,” declares the LORD.”—2 Chronicles 34:27
And He sharpens our senses, He wakes us up, He takes away the dullness—and love becomes the “loudest voice”…
And He lifts us up to be able to see and to “realize” from a higher perspective.
“He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.“—Psalm 145:19
And He guards us from turning toward evil in our hearts, because our hearts are set upon Him. ?
Through the leading of the Holy Spirit, He guards us from the evil that can seep into our hearts as He guides us deep into His Word…
“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”—Psalm 119:11
…and He also guards us from evil that can attempt to take us out….
“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD…”—Psalm 112:7-8
How we need Him!
“For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.‘”—Matthew 13:15
We must prepare our hearts to seek the Lord, and He is with us in this process.
We must seek Him…and He will make sure we “find” Him. ?
Thank You, Father. ?
-Heather ?