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.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)
These are God’s words. He spoke them at the dedication of His Temple. As I turned off the television last Wednesday morning. I just wanted to find out the latest information about two news stories in our nation. The first story had the ending I hoped for. The second one gave me a sense of this one was going to turn into an ‘on-going’ tale that would only bring more heartache to our nation.
I clicked off the television, buried my head in the pillow, and cried out found myself saying, “God, please heal our land.” The next thing I knew, I found myself thinking of the above verse.
if my people, who are called by my name,
God has aimed this message at those who bear His name. As His children and followers of Jesus Christ, His Son. He is speaking about us.
will humble themselves and pray
There is an order here that God expects us to follow. We are to humble ourselves first. By this, I have come to realize that we must face the reality that we are imperfect and only God is perfect. We must tell Him when we have done something He does not like.
and seek my face
We are to not hold back and hide from God. We are to search for Him and look into His face as we make our confessions.
and turn from their wicked ways,
God wants us to renounce our bad habits and our ways of living that do not bring glory to Him. If this seems difficult for us, we need to give that habit over to Him and let Him guide us through the process of changing our thoughts, or our habits.
then I will hear from heaven,
God states that He will hear our confessions and our prayers. He always hears them, no matter how long or short they happen to be.
and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
God forgives us when we confess our sins. That is His business. He also will heal our land. We truly need Him to heal our nation. We must do our part before He can work out our needs.
An added thought: I have seen several references to this scripture since this horrific event occurred. God is trying to tell us something if we would only listen.
Cecelia Lester has been serious about her writing for over two decades..
She composes Christian essays and posts them to her blog quietspirit-followingmyking.blogspot.com/
She has served in a faith-based organization, Grace In Action by writing two newsletters and searching for possible grants.
In July 2017, she published her first book, 'Times of Trouble Bring Rays of Joy.'
She and her husband of 54 years live in central Indiana. They have one grown son.