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Done Suddenly
2 Chronicles 29:36
"And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly."
One of the reasons why Hezekiah was able to get all of Judah to serve the LORD was because he suddenly organized the worship service. Yes, Hezekiah cleaned up the temple and followed the advice of the prophet, but the main reason the people of Judah got involved was because of the haste of serving God.
Many people fail to serve the LORD because they fail to suddenly get involved. God says in the verse above, "...for the thing was done suddenly." The word "suddenly" means, "without premeditation; unexpectedly; hastily." Each of these definitions properly describes what it takes if you are going to serve God, but not just serve Him in a small way, but serve Him in a great way.
When it comes to serving God, don't think about whether you should serve Him. I often hear people tell me that they need to think about it before they do it. When it comes to taking on new tasks in your service to God you should take time to think about it, but when it comes to serving God in general, you should suddenly serve Him. If you take your time to think about whether you should serve God, you will end up not doing it. You will come up with many excuses as to why you can't do it; just do it. For instance, don't think about whether you should witness to someone, just suddenly start witnessing to them. Don't think about whether you should pay your tithe; suddenly pay your tithe. The more you think about whether you should do something for God, the more time you have to come up with excuses.
When it comes to serving God, don't wait to serve Him. One of the reasons many people never serve God is because they wait till later in life to serve Him. Years ago I almost waited to go into full-time service because of an opportunity to do something I always wanted to do. The reason I am able to do for God what I am doing is because I didn't wait to serve Him. I surrendered my dreams for God's purpose for my life, and that is why I have accomplished through God what I have. If you wait till later to serve God, you will never do it. Now is the time to serve the LORD. Stop waiting to serve God until you have tried everything else, suddenly serve Him.
When it comes to serving God, don't slowly serve Him. The word "suddenly" means "hastily." In other words, serve the LORD with passion. Get some haste about your service towards God. Get some emotion in your service towards God. Get an urgency about your service towards God. Too many Christians are not urgent about serving God. Our time is short, and we don't have time to wait and slowly serve the LORD. In these days in which we live Christians need to have an urgency about what they do for God.
You will notice that the result of Hezekiah and the people serving the LORD suddenly was that they rejoiced. When you suddenly serve God, you will find that you will have plenty about which to rejoice. As is often said, jump in, the water's fine. I beg you to decide right now to suddenly serve the LORD.