II Chronicles 30:13 And many people came together in Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very great assembly.14 They set to work and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for burning incense they took away and threw into the brook Kidron. 15 And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed, so that they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the Lord. 16 They took their accustomed posts according to the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests threw the blood that they received from the hand of the Levites. 17 For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves. Therefore the Levites had to slaughter the Passover lamb for everyone who was not clean, to consecrate it to the Lord. 18 For a majority of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord pardon everyone 19 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.” 20 And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people. 21 And the people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness, and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with all their might to the Lord.
Under the leadership of Hezekiah there had been a great renewal in the land. The people were so moved that they swarmed to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover - something they had completely ignored for many years (and would fall back into again.) In the excitement of the celebration they forgot many of the detailed instructions for how to prepare for the solemn celebration, including cleansing ceremonies and sacrifice of the lamb (no small details, to be sure). But Hezekiah was not going to allow this to turn into a negative situation, so he interceded on the people's behalf. He saw that they people were seeking God, setting their hearts to do the right thing, even if not completely in the right way. That's really what often happens when we make our way back to God. We don't always do or say things exactly the way God desires, but He looks on the heart. He does not hear the one who thinks he/she has to do it all right before he/she does it at all. That's self-righteousness, not setting our hearts to seek after God. So, as we prepare to pray for our Nation this week, let's not "stand on ceremony; let's set our hearts, humbly pray, and seek His face.
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