READING: 2 Chronicles 30-31, John 18:1-18
“For Yahweh your God is gracious and merciful; He will not turn His face away from you
if you return to Him.”
2 Chronicles 30:9
It’s hard for me to put into written words my gratitude for a God who welcomes His people when they return to Him in repentance. As a young, but undiscipled, believer, I spent far too many years in spiritual defeat – but God welcomed me back when He pulled me back in His direction. Over the years, my heart hasn’t always been as focused on God as I wish it had been. Victory wasn’t always as immediate or complete as I would have wanted. Still, though, the grace of God has always overwhelmed me, held me, convicted me, and re-directed me. God has always heard my cries of repentance that “came into His holy dwelling place in heaven” (2 Chron. 30:27).
That shouldn’t have surprised me, though, since that’s just the heart of God. Hezekiah knew that truth as he called the Hebrews to observe the Passover. He sent couriers throughout Israel and Judah, and they announced these words: “Israelites, return to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel so that He may return to those of you who remain, who have escaped from the grasp of the kings of Assyria. . . . Serve the Lord your God so that He may turn His burning anger away from you, for when you return to Yahweh, your brothers and your sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors and will return to this land. For Yahweh your God is gracious and merciful; He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him” (2 Chron. 30:6-9). Their serving the Lord would avert His anger, turn His face toward them, and even lead to the release of captives from Assyria. Many of the people did indeed return to God and worship Him, and “there was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for nothing like this was known since the days of Solomon son of David, the king of Israel” (2 Chron. 30:27).
As one writer described God’s grace, “Hezekiah reminds [them] that it is never too late to return to God”*– yet some who heard the call to renewal and repentance in Hezekiah’s day mocked the messengers and ignored the message. Let that not be the case for us today. God is still the same God who both woos and waits for the prodigal son to return.
ACTION STEPS:
- If you need to return to God, do so today. He knows where you are.
- Praise Him for the many new beginnings He grants us.
PRAYER: “God, I praise You for being gracious and merciful.”
TOMORROW’S READING: 2 Chronicles 32-33, John 18:19-40
*Thompson, J. A. (1994). 1, 2 Chronicles (Vol. 9, p. 353). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.