Tender Hearted

December 14, 2016

Devotions:

“Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.” ‭2 Kings‬ ‭22:19-20‬ ‭KJV‬‬

        What God is looking for in us is a tender and humble heart.  When Josiah had heard the words of the Law which had been lost for a long time, he humbled himself and tore his clothes and mourned before God for way Judah had departed from God's ways. 

        We are to maintain a tender heart before God that if we miss it and sin we turn quickly and confess it.  When we realize the gravity of sin then when we fall, if we do, we treat it as what it is, a great sorrow. 

        Here God had sworn to send Judah into captivity because of the greatness of the sin of Josiah's grandfather, Manassah. Judah got a short reprieve because of Josiah.  To walk in the peace or wholeness of God we must walk in humility with a tender heart.  That is a heart that pricks us when an injustice is done or we do something that is not walking in love.