The first few chapters of 2 Chronicles record the building of the Temple of God, under King Solomon.
• The Temple was completed and Solomon dedicated it to the Lord, in chapter 6.
• He knelt down before God’s people, spread his hands out toward heaven, and said a long prayer – a prayer for the nation, asking God for His blessings (6:13).
The passage we read was God’s response to his prayer.
It’s a long prayer – we will just read 2 Chron 6:26-27 to understand the context.
The Lord appeared to Solomon one night and said (7:14): “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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
The Lord wants the people to seek Him and their nation will be blessed.
• God delights to bless them, but they need to turn to Him.
• Only when the people learn to seek God’s face will they experience God’s grace and blessing for their nation.
Today, God has given us this wonderful nation.
• We too are His people, called by His Name.
• As citizens of this country, we too have the responsibility seek Him and pray for God’s blessing for our land.
Who is God referring to? He said MY PEOPLE, WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME.
• We are the ones who can bring healing to our land.
• 1 Peter 2:9 says, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”
• We, as Christians, have the responsibility to declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His light.
• And we have the responsibility to seek God and bless our nation.
God speaks to His people and not anyone else.
• God wants to bless the land but it will come through His people.
• Revival always begins with God’s own people first.
• We know Him. Those who know Him must seek Him and obey Him.
The Lord says, IF My people…
• This is a condition. No one is ever forced to worship God and seek Him.
• Man is given the freedom. If they are willing to listen and obey; if they are willing to seek Him, they will enjoy what He has promised.
What does the Lord require from us? 1. Humble ourselves.
• We have to admit that there is nothing good in us and that we can do nothing without Him.
• This is the right place to start. God does not hear the prayers of the proud.
• James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
• Why? The one who is proud would not need God.
• Pride exalts self and excludes God. Humility is to recognise our need of God.
Charles H. Spurgeon: “It is not our littleness that hinders Christ; but our bigness. It is not our weakness that hinders Christ; it is our strength. It is not our darkness that hinders Christ; it is our supposed light that holds back his hand.”
Man has the tendency to think that it is through our strength, our wisdom, our talents and effort that great things are done.
2. And PRAY and SEEK God’s face.
We are commanded to pray. It is not a “good-to-have”.
We need God. And until man realises that, he won’t pray.
Psalm 33 expressed this need very well – Psalm 33:10-12
• The point of these verses is that both men and God take counsel and both plan.
• But in the end it is not the counsel and plans of men that are established, but God’s.
• God’s plans take precedence over our plans. It is God who establishes the works of our hands.
Let’s read on - Psalm 33:11-19
• Now we move from planning to implementation (or execution of plan).
• But the point is the same. No matter how great our resources, victory belong to the Lord.
• A king may have a mighty army and strong warriors; his horses may have great strength. But on the day of battle God alone decides who wins.
• God can make the stronger or the weaker win—whichever his plan determines.
• 1 Cor 1:27 “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
Shakespeare’s Henry the Fifth
In the Shakespearean play Henry the Fifth (which was also a movie a few years ago), King Henry comes against incredible odds on the battlefield.
In one scene you see hundreds of bowmen in the back lines sending a downpour of arrows arching over their own front lines and landing on the advancing enemy.
What you realize is that these arrows are launched with no particular target in mind. They are sent with a string and a prayer. In that situation who decides if the arrow lands harmlessly in the ground or lands in the throat of an enemy soldier? The slightest wind will change the course of a thousand arrows. And one metre right or left will make a difference between no wound and a lethal wound.
The answer: God decides. That’s why in the play, King Henry’s victorious little army sang, "Non nobis domine, gloria," as they walked through the bloody field. "Not to us, O Lord, be the glory." — a quote from Psalm 115:1.
We are to humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face… and
3. Turn from our wicked ways.
This is repentance – to turn away from sin and toward God.
• The order here is significant. As we humble ourselves and pray and seek God, we come to know Him and His will.
• And we will no longer want to hold on to those things that grieve Him.
• We’ll know what is right and good for us.
There is no way we can run away from this command - to turn from our wicked ways.
• We are all sinners in need of God’s forgiveness.
• God accepts only one response to sin - not rationalizing, not excusing, and not comparing ourselves to others - He demands that WE TURN FROM IT!
Jesus told us this story in Luke 18:9ff.
• Two persons praying – a Pharisee and a tax-collector. One compares himself with the worst sinners.
• Luke 18:11 “God, I thank you that I am not like other men-robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector.”
• The Pharisee received nothing from God. The tax-collector received God’s forgiveness.
• God expects only one response from us – confess and repent.
Do you want God’s best? Then we need to deal with the wicked ways that are holding us back from God’s blessings.
• God is calling us to turn from our wicked ways.
• We do that by admitting our sin and abandoning our sin.
We need to pray that as a nation we will continue to walk right, that we will turn from our wicked ways.
• When God’s people follow God’s ways, they will see God’s blessings.
• The Lord says, IF… THEN WILL I HEAR FROM HEAVEN AND WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN AND WILL HEAL THEIR LAND.
(1) God hears from heaven.
• We don’t have to worry about getting God’s attention. God hears our prayers.
• He is on line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and He delights in hearing the prayers of His children.
• Psalm 121:4 says, “Indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”
(2) And God will forgive our sins.
• That’s His promise - 1 John 1:9 “When we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
• Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Only God can remove the guilt in our heart because of sin.
• No one can. No court sentences can. No jail term or fine can do that.
• Only God can forgive our sins and make us clean again.
(3) And God will heal the land.
• God will bless the nation, for the Israelites in their time, and for us today.
• Blessing will come when God’s people pray and seek His face.
We’ve the responsibility to pray for our nation, the same way David prayed for his.
• Paul says in 1 Tim 2:1-4 “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
Who else can play this role? Nobody can.
• Only “My people, who are called by My name”. Only Christians can.
• How can a nation be blessed if God’s people aren’t praying?
Today, if God’s people (you and me) will humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face, and turn from our wicked ways, we’ll see God’s blessings in our land.
• God intends for revival to start with His people.
• It starts with me, the Christian, and then to the Church, to the Community, and to our Country.
Finally, one more thought before we close.
Look at 7:13. God said, “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…if my people who are called by my name…”
• God sends a wake-up call to His people. He sent the drought, the locusts, and the plague, not because He doesn’t care but because He does.
• Through these trials, He got the attention of the people.
• God says “I want to forgive your sin and heal your land.”
God wants us to return to Him. God wants us to seek Him with all our hearts.
• God may have allowed the drought to come, the locusts and the plagues in your life, in order to wake us up.
• God wants you to pay attention, to realise that we need God.
• We need to humble ourselves and return to God. To pray and seek His face, and turn from your wicked ways.
• God will pour out His blessings as He has promised.
God has blessed our nation.
• And He will continue to do so IF MY PEOPLE WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY AND SEEK MY FACE AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS.
• One way to celebrate National Day is to pray for our nation.
• Pray that God’s Name be glorified in this place.
