Have you ever slammed a door after an argument? I have.
Did you ever say something you regretted? Me too.
Has your thought life ever offended God? Mine has.
Ever break a promise to your kids? Guilty!
Have you procrastinated when you should have taken action? Yes.
Did you use your time very unwisely on more than one occasion? Of course I have.
What do all these behaviors have in common? Each one produces inner turmoil. The “languishing” heart is God’s gift to sinners.
“How languishing is your heart,” declares the Lord God, “while you do all these things, the actions of a bold-faced harlot,” (Ezekiel 16.30 NAS).
Whenever I make a wrong choice, my insides ‘droop’ with despair. I suffer with a “languishing… heart.” The biblical solution for this spiritual condition is called repentance. Repentance, of course, requires humility, something I’m not fully familiar with. Yet humility is the path of healing for the “languishing… heart.” It’s the path Jesus embarked upon when He “humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2.8). It’s the path He chooses for you and me.
