Context No. 4043 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 30:13-19: in context

13Many people assembled at Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great assembly. 14They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the altars for incense and threw them into the brook Kidron. 15Then they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought burnt offerings into the LORD’s house. 16They stood in their place after their order, according to the law of Moses the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood which they received of the hand of the Levites. 17For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves; therefore the Levites were in charge of killing the Passovers for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to the LORD. 18For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover other than the way it is written. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good LORD pardon everyone 19who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even if they aren’t clean according to the purification of the sanctuary.”

At Hezekiah's great Passover, a problem arises: many of the people, especially those from the northern tribes, had come to worship but had not properly cleansed themselves according to the ritual law, and yet they ate the Passover anyway. Rather than turning them away or condemning them, Hezekiah prays for them.

May the good LORD pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary's rules of cleanness. And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people. Here is something beautiful about how God regards his worshipers. These people had come with sincere hearts to seek God, even if they had not gotten every ritual detail right, and Hezekiah trusted that God would look on the heart's desire to seek him rather than on ceremonial imperfection. God did not require ritual perfection before he would receive them; he received the ones who set their hearts to seek him. This is not an excuse for carelessness, but a comfort for the sincere: God welcomes the one whose heart is set to seek him.

Do I trust that God looks on the heart's sincere desire to seek him rather than requiring outward perfection, so that I come to him with a heart set on seeking him even when I fear I have not gotten everything right?

Sources

2 Chronicles 30:18-19: "Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, May the good LORD pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God... even if they aren't clean according to the purification of the sanctuary."
2 Chronicles 30:20: "The LORD listened to Hezekiah, and healed the people."
1 Samuel 16:7: "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."