Sermon
Lanier Christian Church – David Simpson
January 10, 2021
Who Has Your Heart?
2 Chronicles 16:9
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV
As I shared last week, just because we changed the calendar to a new year, does not guarantee smooth sailing ahead. The pandemic is the worst it’s been since it started. Our local hospital is full. Patients are now in the gym at Laurelwood and in the hallway of the Medical Center. This is most concerning.
The political and social unrest in our country throughout the last year and this past Wednesday has scarred our nation. The storming of the capitol building on Wednesday and the deaths that resulted is unacceptable in a peaceful democracy that we have fought to maintain over all these 240+ years. I’ve been in the capitol rotunda and the halls of congress. It is an awe-inspiring place. The lack of respect and the criminal behavior that took place Wednesday cannot be tolerated. This too is most concerning.
For those of you who don’t know me very well, I want you to know that I do not talk politics in the pulpit and I’m not planning to start today. But, I do have a response to the pandemic virus that has ravaged our nation and all the social unrest that has caused upheaval across our land.
Know this: God is watching.
God has not abandoned us.
As He so often does, He has allowed his creation to make choices and reap the benefits of good and righteous and wise decisions or suffer the consequences of bad and sinful choices.
God gave us a brain that he expects us to fill with His inspired wisdom. He gave us a heart - emotions that he expects us to devote to love, compassion, humility and mercy. He gave us hands and feet that he expects us to use for honest endeavors and service to others. He gave us a voice that he expects us to use for proclamation and praise of His mighty name. He gave us ears – two of them in fact - that we might listen more than we speak, filter out the noise and focus on His truth.
So, I say it again…God is watching. And do you know what He’s looking for?
…hearts that are fully committed to Him.
And what does He want to do when He finds such hearts? He wants to strengthen them.
That’s exactly what his word tells us as recorded in 2 Chronicles 16:9
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV
So, I ask you today.
Do you have a heart that is fully committed to God?
A little background…This verse in 2 Chronicles comes from the story of King Asa of Judah, who at one time had a history of trusting God and avoiding idolatry. But near the end of his life, He feared the wicked King Baasha of the northern kingdom, Israel (which was completely wicked and filled with idol worshiping at this time.) King Asa feared invasion and the loss of his kingdom.
So…he took all the treasures from the temple and bought an alliance with King Ben-Hadad, King of Aram (today’s Syria). Simply put, King Asa traded the treasures of God’s temple for protection from an idol worshiping king. Instead of relying on God, Asa began to rely on the Syrians for protection.
So…God confronted Asa by sending him a prophet named Hanani. The prophet reminded Asa about God’s powerful protection in the past. Now, as a result of Asa’s failure to rely on God, Judah’s peace would end. Let me read this one time and add the last sentence of the verse:
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV
On hearing the prophet’s declaration, Asa became angry rather than humble. So angry was the king that he imprisoned this prophet and began to oppress many of his own people. So prideful and angry was King Asa that three years later as he lay dying of an unnamed disease, he refused to seek help from the Lord.
The story of King Asa reminds us how easy it is to start off well with God and then fall away. And the truth is….We are all faced with daily choices to rely on God or self.
It’s time for some honest introspection. Humility is what we need first. C.S. Lewis once wrote: Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less. We need to humbly ask God through prayer to show us if we are relying on Him or on worldly supports. We need to confess the times when we have chosen to rely on ourselves rather than on Him.
The only way we will survive this pandemic and overcome this political storm and time of unrest is if we have yielded our hearts totally to Almighty God.
Because when we do, His strength empowers us to move ahead with hope and faith and conviction and service. When we yield our hearts to God, we finally realize that life is not about us, it’s about Him and His will for our lives.
We need to be humbled and understand that He is the Sovereign King. He is the Lord of Lords. He is the Creator of all. He is the one who by his handiwork spun the stars into being and created the expanse of the universe above us. He is the one who provides the sun for warmth and light… and the clouds for shade, rain and water. He is the one who gave us a heart that beats and lungs that breathe. A brain that thinks and reasons, eyes that see, ears that hear, legs that walk, arms that embrace. He is the one that gave us love that serves, love that gives, love that cares, love that forgives, love that bonds, love that heals, love that sacrifices. He is the one that gives us hope for today and a future in a glorious heaven – where there are not pandemics and no political unrest.
That’s our great God! A heart fully committed TO Him will be strengthened for every situation BY Him.
Or……you can live for self …and suffer the consequences.
No one person in this room today, or anywhere on this planet can claim to be Sovereign Lord. No one can say that they created the expanse of the heavens above. No person alive today can say that they control the rising and setting of the sun. No individual can say that they created their own brain, eyes, ears, heart, hands, and feet, nor can we claim that any one of us are the perfect specimen of the human body. No one person can claim that they have an exclusive claim to all the wisdom and knowledge of the world. No one can stand and proclaim that they are God. There is only one and you are not Him and neither am I!
We have all been marred by the poor choices of our own sin. Therefore, the only perfect love the world has ever known came down from heaven to rescue us from ourselves and give us a home with him forever. That love is best expressed through this verse:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
God does not want to destroy us. He wants to rescue us from ourselves, because He loves us as his most treasured possession.
I grew up with a phrase that my parents used when someone was too prideful and arrogant for their own good. They would say: “They need to get off their high horse.”
It’s time for us to get off our high horses, to set aside our foolish pride and belief that we have all the answers. It’s time to simply return to humility and know that God wants our hearts. If we do, He will provide the answers and He will provide the direction.
I am sure that He has grown weary of us telling him what to do.
God I need this. God please do that. God I know I don’t ask for much but please do this one thing…and so forth.
Let’s show humility and seek Him with our whole heart….knowing that He WILL provide and strengthen us, if we let Him take control. Because, as the prophet said to King Asa….Anything less is foolishness.
Almighty God is looking to strengthen the hearts of those who have yielded their hearts completely to Him.
So, I ask you today. Who has your heart?
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
