Living Understanding Pt 13: Humble

2Chronicles 7:13-14              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, 14if 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.

I suppose every one of us has found ourselves in a situation which seems bleak and might even seem unsurvivable.  During those times all our surroundings seem dark and impenetrable.   But our circumstances are never as awful as we imagine them to be there is always a solution even though it is not readily apparent.  This verse comes at a time when Solomon has built the First Temple and has given dedicational prayer for it.  The worst of all possible circumstances for a Jew was to be away from the Promised Land and away from the presence of God in the Temple.  But it was a bleak time for Israel and this verse is offering hope for a more positive future.

Called by my name

Millenia ago, God began presenting Himself to the pagan world through the people of Israel and Judah, the Jews.  They were and remain his people, but they have fallen away for a time and the focus has been upon bringing the pagan world, the Gentiles, into the Kingdom.  This process God calls being grafted in and can be read about in Romans 11.

Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23And if [the Jews] do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted [back] in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! (Romans 11:11-24)

Although speaking to Solomon, God is speaking to all of us who are grafted into the household of God.  His people are the Jews and all of us who have come into the family through faith in Jesus Christ.  And it is nice to know that membership in the household of God does not exempt a person from struggles and stresses that come from living in a fallen world.  So even though times may seem bleak right now, and even impenetrable, God offers a solution—He offers four steps a person can take to reconcile with God, even if that person has incurred God’s wrath through rejection or outright denial of Him, or perhaps through a sinful lifestyle.

Humble themselves

First, we should humble ourselves and repent of our sin.  This is not an easy thing to do, especially for headstrong, independent-minded members of Western culture.  We think whatever we want to do is right just because it is what we want to do.  We don’t acknowledge the existence of higher moral values or Godly precepts and even deny the existence of God.  So the major stumbling block is not the sin we engaged in, but the existence of pride in our heart.  But my friend, repentance is a wonderful thing—it allows God’s kindness to rekindle our salvation.  Through repentance we can hit delete and move on more fully into the grace of God.

9yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.  11See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.  (2Corinthians 7:9-11)

Pray

Second, we should pray.  You know, prayer is just conversation with God.  But people sometimes feel embarrassed about it because it feels like we are talking to ourselves.  But there is a sense of fulfillment to it that is sneaky and exciting all at the same time.  When I first came back to the Lord many years ago I entered a praying church.  In the beginning I felt there was no way I would even be able to pray out loud, particularly in front of people.  But then I found myself leading prayers, then leading hour long Zoom prayers, then visiting people confined by age or disease, and all the while my faith was increasing.

When you are having a conversation with your best friend, sometimes you speak, sometimes they do, and transfer of thought and relationship happens.  It is the same with God.  I know you can’t see Him, and considering our sinful state that’s probably a good thing.  But know this for sure:  God is kind and loving and wants full restoration of fellowship with each of his children.  Including you.  Prayer is how believers commune with their Maker.  It is how disobedient, even obedient, children experience God’s healing and joy.  So if you are not a praying person, it is time to start.  Do this:  First, turn off the TV and outside world and just sit quietly.  Perhaps say the Lord’s Prayer.  Do this every day at the same time (schedule it!) for one week.  Then as you are comfortable, begin talking to God.  But nothing formal or formulaic.  Just talk to God as you would with your best friend.  And listen; God answers prayer, too.  Then begin to extend these times, and conversations, and you will find yourself becoming strangely content.

Seek my face

‘Seek my face’ refers to intimacy.  It is OK to scream, yell, cry, even use curse words; it is all prayer, all conversation with God.  But seeking is a step beyond prayer.  It is that intimate quiet time that the best of friends can have without saying a word.  God knows everything about your life anyway; he knows the struggles, fears, and worries.  So there is nothing you can say that he doesn’t already know, but the difference is that he wants you to come to him and lay all those things at his feet.  He’ll take care of them.

Turn from wicked ways

But repentance is not just saying “I’m sorry” to God.  Repentance involves a lifestyle change, a change of direction.  It means laying down old habits and turning to a new way of doing things.  Habits are tough to break though especially if they have been held for long periods of time.  It might mean removal of yourself from the source of temptation:  No longer going to bars for instance, or breaking off toxic relationships, or avoiding near-pornographic movies. 

Repentance often involves finding a trusted friend that can hold you accountable to maintain your abstinence from that thing.  There is nothing like the embarrassment of admitting a fall to teach a person not to do that thing again.

What about me?

All of this has been about our part in reconciliation with God.  What is God’s part?  He tells us that he will hear our prayers, forgive us, and heal our land.  ‘Heal our land’ in this case means restoring us into fellowship with him and help us overcome our sin.  Short of our personal salvation, there is nothing better—ever!