{"id":1246,"date":"2021-08-09T06:00:39","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T11:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/?p=1246"},"modified":"2021-08-05T11:02:54","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T16:02:54","slug":"the-heart-of-the-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/09\/the-heart-of-the-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"The Heart of the Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
\u201c6. Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.<\/strong>\u201d
Isaiah 55:6-7 <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hezekiah was the greatest king Judah\never had (see 2 Kings 18:5). He was compared back to King David, the man after\nGod\u2019s own heart. Hezekiah made great reformations in Judah,\neliminated idols and reinstated worship of the one true God. His heart was\nright before God. \u201cAnd in every\nwork that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in\nthe commandments, to seek his God, he did it<\/em> with all his heart, and\nprospered<\/strong>\u201d (2 Chronicles 31:21). Hezekiah led the people to follow\nGod. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hezekiah had a great sickness, and Isaiah told him that God\nsaid Hezekiah would die of that sickness. Hezekiah prayed. God healed. God did\na great sign to show Hezekiah he would live. The Babylonians came when they\nheard Hezekiah was sick. He showed them all of the treasures of Judah.\nWe can read that his heart was lifted up (2 Chronicles 32:25). He was prideful\nof all he had. He should have given God the credit for all of the treasures of Judah.\nHe should have been a vocal witness to the Babylonians. \u201cHowbeit in the business of<\/em> the\nambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the\nwonder that was done<\/em> in the land, God left him, to try him, that he\nmight know all that was<\/em> in his heart<\/strong>\u201d (2 Chronicles 32:31).\nGod knew what was in Hezekiah\u2019s heart, but now all <\/em><\/strong>knew what was\nreally in Hezekiah\u2019s heart: Pride. \u201cNotwithstanding\nHezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both<\/em> he and the\ninhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD came not upon them in\nthe days of Hezekiah<\/strong>\u201d (2 Chronicles 32:26). Hezekiah and all the\ninhabitants of Jerusalem humbled\nthemselves before the Lord, and God\u2019s wrath was delayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hezekiah\u2019s son, Manasseh, became the worst king Judah\nhad. \u201cBut did that which was<\/em>\nevil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom\nthe LORD had cast out before the children of <\/strong>Israel<\/strong>\u201d\n(2 Chronicles 33:2). One can read a listing of his wickedness in 2 Chronicles\n33:3-9. One terrible thing he did was \u201cto cause his children to pass through\nthe fire,\u201d which is child sacrifice. God went on to declare that Manasseh did worse<\/em><\/strong>\nthan the heathen whom the Lord had removed before the children of Israel.\nGod sent men to warn Manasseh and the people, but they would not listen. Isaiah\nwas a prophet of God during Hezekiah\u2019s reign and even into Manasseh\u2019s reign.\nRead something recorded in Isaiah that we can still read today: \u201c6. Seek ye the LORD while he may be found,\ncall ye upon him while he is near: 7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the\nunrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will\nhave mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon<\/strong>\u201d\n(Isaiah 55:6-7). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the wickedness of Manasseh, God allowed the enemy\nto take him captive into Babylon. \u201cAnd when he was in affliction, he besought\nthe LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers<\/strong>\u201d\n(2 Chronicles 33:12). While in Babylon,\nManasseh sought the Lord and humbled himself before Him. After calling upon the\nLord, Manasseh forsook his way, and turned unto the Lord. God heard his\nsupplication and had mercy on this wicked king. God pardoned him, allowed him\nto return to Judah,\nand even sit upon the throne once again. \u201cThe LORD is<\/em> nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and\nsaveth such as be of a contrite spirit<\/strong>\u201d (Psalm 34:18). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manasseh proceeded to do much good: he reinforced the city,\ntook away the strange gods, idols, and altars he built in the house of the Lord,\nand cast them out of the city. He repaired the altar of the Lord and commanded Judah\nto serve the Lord God of Israel.\n\u201cNevertheless the people did\nsacrifice still in the high places \u2026<\/strong>\u201d (2 Chronicles 33:17a). In\nHezekiah\u2019s day, the people humbled themselves before the Lord with Hezekiah. In\nManasseh\u2019s day, the people continued in their false worship even after Manasseh\nturned his heart to God. God\u2019s wrath would come.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember, God sees the heart. \u201c20. If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; 21. Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart<\/strong>\u201d (Psalm 44:20-21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you understand God knows the secrets of the heart?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hezekiah was the greatest king Judah ever had (see 2 Kings 18:5). He was compared back to King David, the man after God\u2019s own heart. Hezekiah made great reformations in Judah, eliminated idols and reinstated worship of the one true God. His heart was right before God. \u201cAnd in every work that he began in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[318],"tags":[742,740,125,696,744,332,743,741,615,442,486,489,242],"class_list":["post-1246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-with-verse-and-blog","tag-2-chronicles","tag-fosake","tag-heart","tag-hezekiah","tag-humbled","tag-lord","tag-manasseh","tag-mercy","tag-pride","tag-return","tag-search","tag-secrets","tag-seek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1248,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246\/revisions\/1248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}