The heart of the righteous weighs its answer, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil. The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous. ~Proverbs 15:28-29
This is what the Lord says, He who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it, and The Lord is His name: “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” ~Jeremiah 33:2-3
Amazingly, because of repentance, no one is set in their course forever if they don’t want to be. In truth, because all of us were born in sin, all of us began life apart from God. When we read the proverbs above, we all begin life at the place where the wicked are. We all gush evil. We are all full of our own desires and we are often willing to go to great lengths to have those desires fulfilled.
Many of us are civil about getting what we want. The world may call us, “good,” and, perhaps by most standards we are. But God’s standard says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). So, what the remedy? Change becomes possible when our heart begins to weigh its thoughts, desires, and words, and discovers that in truth, the person in whom it resides isn’t quite where it wants to be. This heart sees God’s standard, holiness, and wants holiness and righteousness to be the goal. The Lord will always hear that prayer and is more than willing to assist in the transformation from wickedness apart from God to righteousness, becoming Like Him instead.
“Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” That is not from a God who wants to remain distant. He wants to be fully known by all those He has created in His image. His desire, in contrast to our sinful selfish ones, is that all would call on Him and be saved. “If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come!” The old, the desire for our own ways that separate us from God, is gone, and the new, the desire to walk in His ways and become like Him is come.
He hears the prayer of the one who longs to repent and change. He answers that prayer with gladness, and He hears our prayers and petitions for wisdom, guidance and supply. True, we all begin life separated from Him, so Solomon’s words are true. But thanks be to God! In Christ, we are not doomed to this life of separation, because God Himself wants to draw us close to Him, through Jesus, forever.
Prayer: Father, thanks for listening! Help me hear You too and obey. Thanks for making new life possible in Jesus. Help me share that with others. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: Draw Me Close to You
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