It Came Suddenly

[S] 2 Chronicles 29:36 --
 ³⁶Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the thing came about suddenly.

[O] King Hezekiah cleaned up the House of Judah by getting rid of the idols and consecrating all the priests.  He returned the Israelite's heart back towards God and in some sense simply by initiating that great things begin to happen in the midst of the Jewish people.  The transformation did not take place by applying some phenomenal management strategy but by going back to the basic posture of the people of God.  What caught my attention from this verse is the part about how people rejoiced because the things of God came about suddenly.  The people were surprised about how God showered His blessings to them so quickly.  Again, the people weren't trying to find joy but to align themselves right with God and the joyfulness came as a result of that.

[A] Whenever I am lacking joy, it is so easy for me to work on finding that lost joy as how I would search for a misplaced item.  I would work so hard by making some strategy of my own to restore what's lost.  And at first this would seem like the right path to take however based on my experiences this would lead to tiredness and then after making some progress I would plateau out.  Instead of trying to replace that lost joy, I must first align my own heart back to God and consecrate all the areas of my life.

[P] Dear God, I want to experience your sudden workings of the wonderful blessings because I've cleaned out the junks in my life so I may consecrate myself to God.  Please show Your grace and mercy in my and my family members' lives.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.