Humbling Prayer
When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, (14) if my people who are called by my name 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. 2 Chronicles 7:13-14
Pre-election
I cannot tell you how many times I saw verse 14 posted on social media sites leading up to the election.
Now, just two days after the election it is obvious to me that many were praying and counting on God to hear our prayers and heal our land. What, it appears, they did not want to do was humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways.
Post-election
Many post-election posts from Christians, aimed at Christians and the general public, are anything but humble. We seem to have lost the truth that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).” And, “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another (Titus 3:3).”
The verses from 2 Chronicles 7 (top) is talking about turning back to God, humbling ourselves to say, “I/we got it wrong. Only Your way works, O God. Forgive my arrogance, my leaning on my own (or the world’s) understanding.”
In true humility we would confess our own sin as a part of the sin of our nation. 60 million dead babies, standing by while our world mocks biblical marriage, and tears the family apart. The teaching that we keep passing on that it does not matter what the world does, and that we must not correct or be intolerant of unbiblical thinking and living.
Welcome to 2016 and a new President. As Trump was running for office we (Christians) recognized and talked openly about our choices reflecting the idea of being under the judgment of God. The choices were both full of past wickedness, but we knew one would be elected (even if we would not vote for them).
On election night, the tone changed. It was as if God was sending a savior. I do believe he is truly the lesser of two evils. The fact remains that he has done a lot of evil himself and the jury is still out on what he will do going forward. Do we have reason to think that he will be different than politicians we have had in the past?
I am optimistic enough to hope that this presidency will be better than I expect. I am realistic enough to know we are dealing with politics.
The bottom line for us is that only God can make this country great again. You and I, we need to turn from our wicked ways. We can confess for our nation, but if we do not personally turn from our own wickedness, God will hear the words from our mouths but see that our hearts are far from Him. He knows prayerful lip service when He hears it.
Are we blind to it? Are we willing to pray to see it?
“if my people who are called by my name 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.”
A friend of mine and I were just having this very conversation this morning, that this bit of scripture has been completely forgotten. And it’s SO IMPORTANT!
Jen, Sadly, I fear too many people are not hearing any teaching/preaching from the Old Testament. Somehow, another verse that has been left out of the teaching is Mat_5:18, For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Jesus did not make the whole OT scriptures null and void. He fulfilled some – but instructions like those in 2 Chronicles 7 are every bit as relevant today as they were when they were written. Keep talking to your friends – and encourage them to talk to their friends! Thanks for commenting!