2 Chronicles 7:14
A couple of years ago, my wife and I were traveling to California by car for a vacation. The trip is around 14 to 15 hours long, so we broke it up into two days of travel. Well, in that time, there is a lot of time to talk, and a lot of time to just be silent. We also brought some CD’s that we could put in the player, and listen to “Christian” music along the way.
Somewhere along the line, as we were silent and listening to music, she put in a CD that hit both of us in a way that was really hard to handle. The title of the song was, “If my People, Called by My Name”. Several people and groups have done renditions of it and changed the words a bit but it remains a powerful reminder to us of what God wants from us.
The original message should be somewhat familiar to us as it comes from 2 Chronicles 7:14, when Solomon was dedicating the Temple he had built for the LORD.
The Lord Appears to Solomon
11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, 12 the Lord appeared to him at night and said:
“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 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 I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
17 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.’
19 “But if you[a] turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you[b] and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 21 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All[c] who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 22 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.’”
We as Christians need to read and heed what the song and the scripture are telling us. Yes, the original verses above, were written to the people of Israel, but our nation was founded on Christian principles, and we were protected as a nation by God. We have, however, turned from those founding beliefs, and turned to other gods and have the audacity to ask, “Why has God removed His protection from our nation?”
The answer to that question is found in verses 19 and 20. ”19 “But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you[b] and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot you (Substituted by the author) from my land, which I have given you, (Substituted by the author)
I see our land as being in that position at this point and the solution is found in verse 14: “14 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 I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. “
Spend time this week considering verse 14. Spend time on your knees (if you are able) and PRAY! Seek HIS face! Pray that our nation will turn from its wicked ways and that we will return to God so HE can heal our land.
Ed Johanson