The Spirit Raises Our Hearts to Heaven

Meditation for the day taken from Everyday Prayer with John Calvin written by Donald McKim:

Scripture: Micah 3:1-4

The warning in this passage is directed toward the rulers of the house of Jacob and Israel. Carrying that theme over to the New Testament church, we can easily apply this warning to the leaders of the church: ministers, elders, and deacons. The indictment offered is that these rulers have acted wickedly and done evil (3:2). They are those that call good, evil and evil, good. They are crushing the people (Cp. Is. 3:15). They are not shepherding the people as they should (See Ezek. 34). These men are bad actors in the vineyard of the Lord. As a result, the LORD will not hear their cry, their prayers. Though they cry out to him, he turns a deaf ear because of their sin. If a man regards iniquity in his heart, the Lord will not hear him (Ps. 66:18). It is a dreadful thought! To think that the LORD will not hear the prayers of his officers in the church should cause them to do serious soul searching and repent of known sin.

However, the leaders of the church are not the only ones that the LORD will turn a deaf ear. He will do so towards his people as well. If they regard iniquity, if they refuse to confess and repent of known sin, he will not hear their cry. These verses serve as a warning and reminder to the church officers and the members. It also helps to cause us to remember that we depend on the Holy Spirit when we pray. He is the searcher of hearts, and we do not usually know how to pray as we should. Without him, we would not be heard. Without him, we would not be concerned to repent of sin and turn in faith to God in our prayer. Calvin writes, "except one is guided by the Spirit of God, he cannot pray from the heart. And we know that it is the peculiar office of the Spirit to raise up our hearts to heaven; for in vain we pray, except we bring faith and repentance: and who is the author of these but the Holy Spirit?" McKim adds, "The Holy Spirit raises our hearts to heaven, enabling us to pray as we should. In the Spirit, we pray with hearts that are truly focused on God and are turned away from wickedness and our own bad actions." (69)

Therefore, we must treat prayer seriously. We do not approach our holy God flippantly and without a firm grip on the help of the Holy Spirit. We come confessing our sin, aware of our transgressions and failures, repenting of them as the Spirit gives us grace, and then proceed as God the Holy Spirit raises our hearts to heaven.