Switched Keys

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

I've heard 2 Chronicles 7:14 repeated many times over the last 10-20 years and the message that is that we should PRAY. Prayer is very important part of the Christian's life. Jesus spent many hours away in prayer to God. He needed to spend time with his father. As children of God WE need to pray. But this verse says so much more. 

The setting for this statement was in Israel in a time of their rebellion. It was a promise from God that was meant for the Jewish nation. It doesn't talk specifically about other nations, or even the church, but most would agree that the principle likely applies to any people that names the name of God. Even so, there is so much more we need to notice about this statement from God.

In the United States we are faced with the oppressive rule of socialist Marxists that are pushing an immoral agenda, a society that focuses on pleasure and wealth, and a church that too often cowls to the influence of a humanistic world view. The message in Chronicles is not one to all of the people in our nation. It is specifically to His people. It is when His people are in rebellion that God is often most vehement.

Looking closer at the passage notice that His first demand is that we humble ourselves. We may proudly demand justice in the political arena with appeals for the preservation of the freedoms our nation was founded on, but do we humble ourselves. Do we look at what we are lacking in our own lives? 

It is when we have seen our own shortcomings and our real needs that we can effectively pray. Notice that there are two parts to this demand, "pray and seek my face". It's not enough to just say prayers on a regular basis. We need to seek his face, attempt to see how He is looking at us, discover Him and what He wants from us. 

Joined to that demand is another demand, "turn from their wicked ways". As we humble and pray we need to consider our lives and repent of those things that do not please Him. If you think about Israel's history, God occasionally allowed ungodly nations to defeat or take over Israel. Yes, these other nations were ungodly, but it is not their wickedness that was the focus of this demand. It was initially because of God's peoples' wickedness that He allowed this to happen. If some other nation or ideology is destroying our nation, we may need to first ask what we did to deserve it.

If this judgment on our nation was because of our wicked ways, what wicked ways do God's people need to turn away from? What do we need to repent from? How do our lives stray from His calling us to Himself? Are we living our lives to please ourselves. Are we more concerned about our financial security individually and as a nation? Are we too tolerant of evil in our own neighborhoods? Are we too cowardly to face those who would take our freedoms? And, are we too dependent of our government providing for us?

I think repentance is the first thing we need to focus on when we read 2 Chronicles 7:14. Is there something we need to repent of? If this promise to Israel does apply to us, and we do humble, pray, seek, and turn, God will first off forgive our sin. That is the most important consequence of repentance. A right relationship with God is more valuable than anything else. That is the message of the gospel that doesn't depend on the Chronicles passage. But if Chronicles does apply, following that God will heal our land. Even though things look hopeless in a world full of darkness, we can have hope and assurance that God will provide. He can change the world around us, or he can protect us from that world.