I read yesterday that Ahaz chained the temple closed, but it didn’t hit me until today the literal extent of his sin.
Hezekiah understood that first things had to come first, so he purified the temple so that sacrifices and worship of the Lord could be reestablished. After consecrating themselves priests and Levites took 16 days to move methodically through the temple removing all the defilement and returning the Lord’s articles. I couldn’t get over the fact that it took this horde of workers 16 days to do the necessary work of consecrating. That’s a lot of work!
Certainly God could have cleansed it in an instant, but instead He choose to have his workers do it and that took time and effort.
As I think about this it occurred to me the same is true for our lives. God does remove our sin instantly when we confess it. However the lingering effects of the sin often remain and it generally takes time to remove the traces and effects of life long sin. Yes, God can cleanse and purify us in an instant. I know one brother who was instantly freed from drug addiction, but most I know take years of counseling, AA and the like, to conquer the addictions. The same goes for inappropriate language, regular use of lies to keep out of trouble, greed, sex outside of marriage, bitter thoughts, gossip and the like.
It takes time to rid our ‘sanctuary’ of sin.
God calls us to purity and holiness. Will we put in the effort, with God’s help and following His lead, to do what we need to do to honor our Lord and put our house in order?
Maybe it is better to put the question in the present tense. Am I (are you) putting in the effort, with God’s help and following His lead, to do what is necessary put our house in order thereby to honoring the Lord?
Lord, reveal to me the work –or at least some of the work –I still need to do to become the man You want me to be. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
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