2 Chronicles 29:5,6
‘Then he said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out of the holy place. For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the LORD our God, and they have abandoned Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD, and have turned their backs.”‘
Hezekiah was a good king. Here he is just beginning his rule and He is bringing the focus back to God. It seems a good king is a rarity. I’m not sure what was in the temple that was unclean. It could have been idols. It reminds me of the golden calf that Aaron made. They claim that it represented the Lord. On a different level of evil would have been an idol to another god. Whichever it was the king wanted it gone.
When we come to Christ this is part of the Spirit’s job. There are things in our lives that we don’t know is a problem. He brings the things to our attention that He wants removed. This is called the process of sanctification. This is the slow process that never ends until we’re in heaven.
In the beginning bigger things are removed. Later it’s mainly fine tuning; smaller things. A couple of big things for me was drinking alcohol and hanging around my old friends. Later I moderately drank and did see my friends, but at the time I needed to be away from both. Those were big subtractions. I felt miserable drinking with them. That was something that we loved to do. But I was now in Christ and I was grieved.
I Peter 4:4 gives the thought of our unbelieving friends, “In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.” What’s interesting about this is that for about a year prior I felt some distance between my friends. Different alliances were formed in the group and I was somewhat isolated. Yet, when I came to Christ and began to drift they wondered what was wrong with me.
I was with some of them when I came to Christ at a christian concert. All of the sudden I was interested in the things of God. He came up in conversation often. I didn’t really know what had happened. I was living life as I normally had, but God was in me. I may not have been converted yet, but God and I had entered some sort of contract and He was strongly drawing me. I made another profession of faith about nine months later. That was definitely my conversion if it wasn’t the earlier one.
God brought Gordon into my life. He was about ten years older and was a seminary student. We met at his apartment every Friday night for bible study. That was huge. I was going to church, but it wasn’t a bible teaching church. So, Gordon’s teaching was very informative.
A buddy from high school had rededicated his life and he and I were best friends in Christ. We began to go to Calvary Chapel together. My brother Mike and mom attended as well. All of this time God was working the uncleanness out of my life.
This cleaning was a blessing. The evil was being removed. In it’s place was God’s joy. Erik Liddle from Chariots of Fire said, “God made me fast. When I run I feel His pleasure.” God’s pleasure filled my heart.
God rewards obedience. God rewards when we give or give things up for Him. Malachi 3:10 says, ‘”Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.”‘ Part of what He pours out on us is joy. It’s better than a drug.
Thank You Lord for cleaning us up. You took our damaged parts and filled us with Your joy and Your healing.