Because Your Heart Was Responsive

Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard that I have spoken against this place and its people … and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord (2 Kings 22:19 NIV).

“Because your heart was responsive!” Can God say that of you today? To be responsive means to respond quickly and positively to something.

When God speaks against something in you that needs to corrected, are you able to respond like King Josiah? Responsiveness to God is the first step to ensure that God will hear you when you pray.

More than a response of the lips, it is a response of the heart.

Responsiveness leads quite naturally to the next step. That is the step of humbling yourself before God. This requires effort. On the other hand, neglect of God can happen easily and without any effort on your part. Then it leads to wrong thinking and practices.

Therefore responding to God demands a humbling of your self before God. This should happen as soon as you hear Him speak against something in you that needs correction.

And again the king tore his robes and wept in God’s presence. These are not “must things to do.” But they are kind of indicators of what the heart is going through. When these kind of displays are genuine and come from the outflow of grief in the heart, then God will hear. And He will respond favorably.

Shouldn’t we be thankful that we do not have a hard-hearted God? Even though we do wrong and violate His commands many times, He hears us when we humble ourselves and weep in His presence. Be thankful that He notes our tears and says: “Because you wept . . . . ”

More Manna:

I Will Not Let You Go Unless You Bless Me

What Is Your Name?

The Sun Rose, He Was Limping

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