Returning to God's Heart: A Journey of Awakening
- Shel Dammann
- Nov 15
- 6 min read
Updated: Dec 12
There’s a moment in Scripture that has been stirring in me this week—a moment of holy awakening, a moment of clarity so sharp it cuts straight through the fog of forgetfulness.
It’s the scene in 2 Kings 22, when young King Josiah hears the Word of the Lord for the first time. The Book of the Law is found after generations of dust and neglect, and when it is read aloud, something breaks open inside him.
He tears his garments in grief.
Not because God rejected him.
But because he realized how far the people had drifted from God’s heart.
Josiah saw the truth:
They had not lived by the Word of the Lord.
They had ignored it, redefined it, and replaced it.
And that realization cut him to the core.
The grief was holy.
The clarity was holy.
The return was holy.
I feel this same ache today.
The Grief of a Neglected Word
We live in a generation that often treats Scripture as optional or outdated. God’s Word is sidelined, softened, reimagined, or simply ignored. We rewrite truth to match our preferences, forgetting the God who breathed it.
And as I read Josiah’s story, something in me whispered:
“This is grievous. And you feel it because I am awakening you again.”
Josiah didn’t point fingers at ancestors or culture or the chaos around him.
He let the Word confront him first.
I recognize that same pull in my own heart—how the Word of God brings me back to my senses. How it wakes me up from distraction. How it gently but firmly brings me home from the places I’ve drifted.
A Personal Awakening: When the Word Breaks Something Free
This morning, as I sat with the Lord, I began to weep. I noticed a small lie that had crept into my thinking—one of those subtle whispers that makes you pause and wonder, Is this Your conviction, Lord, or is the enemy trying to twist what You’ve spoken? And the Holy Spirit answered me so tenderly:
“It is not My Word that brings fear.”
When He led me to 2 Kings 22 and I watched Josiah respond to the rediscovered Word, something inside me broke free. The Lord showed me that His Word does not crush—it liberates. It exposes the lies, breaks the fog, and restores our clarity.
Discovering how the Word sets us free begins when we invite the Holy Spirit to reveal those quiet God-things in our hearts—the subtle idols we never intended to build. And when we tear them down and return God to His rightful place as our only source of hope and strength, the balm of His healing flows in. That is where restoration begins. That is where His presence meets us with freedom and peace.
When the Word Brings Us Home
The prodigal “came to his senses” in Luke 15, but that moment didn’t begin with self-reflection.
It began with truth.
It began with remembering the Father’s voice.
That is what Scripture does for us.
It restores clarity.
It reorders chaos.
It reveals drift.
It awakens conviction.
It realigns desire.
When Josiah heard the Word, he didn’t just repent—he responded.
He tore down idols, removed the counterfeit gods, and reformed the nation.
His conviction became transformation.
I wonder how many places in my own life need this same kind of holy recalibration… the kind that starts with simply hearing the Word again with fresh eyes.
Tearing Down the Modern Idols
Josiah tore down physical idols—high places, shrines, altars, images.
Our idols today look different, but they are just as real.
And often… they are far more subtle.
When Good Things Become God-Things
Some of the most dangerous idols of the heart are not evil things but good things—gifts from God—that quietly slip into a place they were never meant to hold.
A good thing becomes a God-thing when:
we look to it for worth
we trust it more than we trust God
we fear losing it
our peace rises and falls with it
it becomes the place we run for comfort or identity
obedience bends in order to protect it
Family.
Ministry.
Purpose.
Success.
Relationships.
Health.
Rest.
Financial stability.
Even personal growth and healing.
None of these are sinful.
They are beautiful gifts.
But even blessings become burdens when they become the thing we depend on instead of God Himself.
Good things turn into God-things when they begin shaping us more than God’s Word does—when our hearts, our choices, or our emotional stability hinge on them. They become quiet altars we bow to—not out of rebellion, but out of subtle reliance.
Josiah’s story reminds us:
Sometimes the idols we must tear down are not obviously evil…
but the ones we’ve elevated without realizing it.
And when the Word exposes those places, it is never to shame us but to free us.
It’s God saying:
“I gave you these gifts to enjoy, not to worship.
Come back to Me as your source.”*
This kind of holy awareness is what leads us, like Josiah, back into alignment—back into the beautiful order where God is God, and everything else finds its rightful place beneath His love.
The Word Fulfilled, Not Forgotten
Here’s the beauty that sits like a soft light over the whole story:
The law that brought Josiah to repentance is the same law Jesus fulfilled for us.
Jesus did not abolish the law—He completed it (Matthew 5:17).
He carried its weight.
He embodied its holiness.
He absorbed its demands so we could walk in its freedom.
So when the Word convicts me today, it’s not with condemnation—it’s with invitation.
Invitation to align.
Invitation to surrender.
Invitation to walk in the rhythms of grace that Jesus secured for me.
It’s not about legalism.
It’s about love.
A love that says:
“Come follow Me.
Let My Word be your compass.
Let My truth be your freedom.
Let My presence write this law on your heart.”
This Generation’s Calling
I grieve when I see our generation drifting from God’s Word… but I also carry hope.
Because God always has a Josiah.
Always.
In every generation.
Someone whose heart is tender.
Someone who hears His Word and trembles with holy reverence.
Someone who chooses truth over trends.
Someone who rebuilds what was lost.
Maybe you feel that awakening too.
Maybe God is stirring the same longing in you—to know His Word, honor it, and let it shape you from the inside out.
This is how revival begins.
Quietly.
Personally.
Deeply.
With one heart saying:
“Lord, Your Word is life. Bring me back to my senses.”
A Prayer to Return to the Word
Lord, awaken a Josiah-heart within me.
Let Your Word cut through the noise and bring me back to truth.
Where I’ve drifted, restore me.
Where I’ve grown dull, sharpen me.
Where idols linger, tear them down.
Write Your Word on my heart through the power of Your Spirit.
Lead me into alignment with Jesus—the One who fulfilled the law and frees me to walk in Your love.
Amen.
Journaling Prompts: Returning to Your Senses
What lie did the Holy Spirit reveal to me recently, and how did God’s Word break it off my heart?
Where have I sensed fear or pressure that did NOT come from God’s voice?
What “good thing” in my life has begun to take on a God-thing weight?
Which of my thoughts, habits, or desires need realignment so God can reclaim His rightful place?
Where is the Lord inviting me to tear something down so His healing balm can restore what’s been wounded or misaligned?
How is the Word calling me back to my senses in this season?
What would it look like today to return to the Word with tenderness and surrender, like Josiah?
An Invitation to Find Out What Coaching Can Do for You
If something in this message stirred your heart—if you felt the Holy Spirit highlight a lie, uncover a subtle idol, or awaken a deeper longing to return to God’s Word—I want you to know you don’t have to walk that journey alone.
This is the kind of work I walk through with men and women every day:
learning to listen for God’s voice,
recognizing the quiet drift,
rebuilding rhythms that create peace,
and discovering how the Word truly sets us free.
If you’re longing for a safe, Scripture-centered space to explore this more,
to grow,
to heal,
to realign your heart with truth…
I would be honored to walk alongside you.
You’re invited to reach out—whether with a question, a story, or a desire to explore coaching.
Come exactly as you are.
There is room for you here,
and there is grace for your journey.
Coach Shel
Rooted in Truth - Transformed by Grace
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