Humble Prayer in Hard Times

 

Our involvement in the Ukrainian and Russian “war” scares me. I’m not any happier about what we left in Afghanistan. These seem to be bottomless pits of issues we cannot fix, regardless of what we do. It appears that we will lose soldiers and respect and gain nothing.

Does war distract us from a “pandemic” or from economics? Our national spending is out of control and we want to get involved in more costly worldwide issues? Military action keeps our minds on war and not on what’s happening right under our noses.

Are we facing the judgment of God in all these things? Sadly, I think we have defined biblical judgment as how we “judge” each other, not how God judges us.

Many, rightly, point to the shedding of innocent blood when they talk about God’s judgment. The abortion holocaust in our nation is an abomination to God. His judgments are always just. As the Church of Jesus Christ what are we saying about abortion to anyone who has an ear?

However, the judgment of God could be attributed to many other things. We seem to believe (with the wicked) that God has no place in education, politics, science, or anything other than our Sunday morning worship. God clearly teaches us that He Rules over ALL. (1 Chronicles 29:11-12).

All of our elected officials are under the authority of Jesus Christ. Some may only truly understand this as they meet Him at judgment day. God’s law applies to every sphere of our lives. You may argue that we are no longer a “Christian nation.” I saw a meme this week that pointed out that we are not in a post-Christian era, we are apostate. We have turned our backs on God. We do not obey His laws and He has clearly told us that this kind of rejection will bring curses on us and our nation (Deuteronomy 11).

Thinking about this, there are several areas that even as Christians we fail to recognize that we have rejected the Word of God.

• We do not execute murderers or adulterers (a job for the civil magistrates).
• We incarcerate people who rob or steal and make restitution next to impossible for some time.
• We do spare the rod in disciplining our children (I am talking about spanking not beating).
• People eat off the government who could be working for a living and providing for their own.
• The Church has allowed the state to take over the responsibility of charity for the poor.
• We do not teach God’s expectations for tithing.
• We pass off the education of our children to those who hate God (Psalm 1:1).
• Pornography is a big a problem, even among Christians.
• Homosexuality and transgenderism is more and more “normalized”
• The nation does not concern itself with whether or not a war is just.

This is obviously not an exhaustive list but it’s plenty of reason to claim God is justified in judging us as a nation and His Church at this time.

Over the last couple of years 2 Chronicles 7:14 has been repeatedly shared. It says, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

The verse before this explains the situation that God says calls for this kind of prayer: 2 Chronicles 7:13, “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people.”  Perhaps we can see echos of this in a “pandemic,” attacks on innocent people, evil officials in elected offices, or the increasing murder of babies in the womb.

The most encouraging part of the passage though, is in verses 14.  If we (His people) humbly pray and turn from our sin God will hear us and forgive our sin and heal our land. I fear that the Church is fine with prayer but not the humility in turning from our sin.

Our land could use some healing and it sounds to me that this will have to start with Christians humbly repenting of our rejection of God’s law, our failure to teach subsequent generations as we have stayed silent in the midst of evil, and that we have followed the world’s idea of “education” rather than the Lord God Almighty’s.

2 Chronicles 7:14 is a conditional promise. “If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways.”

Will we? Only then will God hear our prayers, forgive us, and heal our land.