If My People…
June 21st, 2015 2 Chronicles 7:14
Who here would like to know that God hears you when you pray? Who wants to be forgiven of any and all wrongs done to others or towards God? Who wants to be healed from past hurts and live in a community that is experiencing healing among its people?
Do we really want to see these things happen in our homes, our church, our community? Are we willing to hear what God says about these things? Then let's pray and let's learn a bit more today about prayer as we continue this series about communicating with God.
We're going to look at an old passage of scripture today, dating back to the time of the construction of the temple in Jerusalem by Solomon, the son of David and now King of Israel. We are going to focus on one verse, one phrase that God spoke and which we today consider one of the deepest revelations about the power and pattern of prayer.
So turn with me to 2 Chronicles chapter 7 and verse 14
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.
(read it twice)
There is so much in that one verse, and we will try to grasp as much as possible today from it, but we must look at it on context also, so we don’t lose sight of why God said this and why we still need to follow his instruction a couple thousand years after He said it…
Solomon is building a temple for the Lord – as his father David had promised to do for God. The work is amazing, beautiful, wondrous for its day and even by today's standards. Statues of angels overlaid with gold, pillars of cedar, the most holy place almost entirely overlaid with gold, golden lampstands a giant bronze altar, gold decoration everywhere – golden tools and tables and dishes and doors…this would have been some sight to see!
When it was completed, the ark of the covenant containing the tablets (stone ones, not i-pads) on which God had written his ten commandments was brought into the temple. The worship team was instructed to play wearing their Sabbath best on cymbals, trumpets and other instruments and to sing 'For He is good, His love endures forever!' and when they did the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, so much so that the ministers couldn’t keep the service going – wow!
Then in ch.6 Solomon stood before the entire assembly of people before the altar and on a specially made platform he kneels before them and before God – this is the KING, the LEADER humbling himself before everyone and he prays a prayer of dedication of this temple he has constructed for the Lord.
Now he realizes and he states in his prayer that no 'house' could actually contain God – 'heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you', he says. But this is a place where God will meet with mankind and will hear their prayers – this one place.
And so Solomon asks God some pretty deep questions, he makes some big requests on behalf of all the people. Things like, if a man sins but confesses before this altar, God, hear from heaven and you be the judge of what's right and wrong and repay accordingly.
If there's a defeat in war because we've sinned against you, but we turn back to you – hear from heaven and restore our land.
If the skies don’t bring rain - and we pray to you – hear from heaven and allow the land to be watered again.
If there's a famine and we run out of food, if there's disease or an outbreak of pests and we cry out to you for help – hear from heaven and forgive whatever sin has brought this upon us – we need you.
Hear from heaven, hear from heaven, hear from heaven: it echoes throughout Solomon's prayer – that in this place, when we come to you O God, hear us. And he closes his prayer with: 'let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.'
And now in chapter 7, as soon as he finished praying – fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the glory of God filled the temple – it was so bright and amazing that again, the priests could not even go in – it was that overwhelming.
And so a week of dedication celebration begins and it all starts with the offering of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep – this was HUGE!
And then, in the quiet of nighttime when Solomon was alone – God came to him and responded to his prayer, and here we are in chapter 7 where God is specifically answering the prayers of this man who was doing God's will and coming on behalf of God's people – (vs.12-16)
'I have heard your prayer.' I think that just knowing that God has heard our prayers should be as amazing to us as when He answers them. Trying to come to an understanding that the Creator has heard our voice should be enough to overwhelm us. Think of what we would do if in the middle of the night we hear this voice that says – I heard you when you prayed today…Shivers run down my spine just contemplating that!
But now we see the context of why God said in verse 14 – if my people…
It's in answer to Solomon's requests: When I shut the heavens or send locusts or pestilence… IF MY PEOPLE…
Are we grabbing a bit more of the depth of this verse? Pretty cool, yes?
This verse, these words of God, is in response to an initial prayer of petition for God to hear their prayers in a huge variety of situations – 'please, hear from heaven.' And God says, I have heard your prayer.
So the very first thing we need to learn is that God responds WHEN we pray – so if we ever expect to hear from God, HE needs to hear from US!
If we are looking for God to do something in any situation in our lives today, we, like Solomon, need to bring those requests to God – we must COMMUNICATE WITH OUR CREATOR! Yes, He knows everything about us, all we need and all we do – but we need to SAY IT!
And secondly, if we desire for God to hear us and to answer our prayers, we must do so in the WAY that Solomon has exemplified for us and the way that God instructs in verse 14.
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.
Is this becoming a bit clearer for us?
1) Be humble before God or be humbled by God: Solomon got on his knees before God and the people – can we imagine our Prime Minister doing this, the President of the USA, the Queen of England, or any world leader for that matter; getting on their knees in front of everyone and asking God to hear our cries for His help?
God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6) Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you (James 4:10). We can get to think of ourselves much more highly than we ought to – what are we really? We are but dust, a vapour in the wind, a single blade of grass, a speck in the universe. And we are approaching the One Who made it all and has power over everything – we had better be humble, or we may end up being humbled.
THEN we must pray – and not just the get-it-over-quick types of prayers, but prayers like we see in these passages: prayers that are specific, prayers that look to restore us to God and to each other, prayers that reflect God's will and not just our own, prayers that come from the heart not from a memorized poem, prayers that look to the betterment of our community as a whole not me as an individual, prayers that show we NEED God to be active in our lives. We need to really, really pray…1 Thessalonians 5:17-19 (NIV) pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Next we need to seek Him always: to seek His face. It's a powerful thing when a child, even a baby, recognizes their parent's face. A baby can be crying and others can try to console but one look into the eyes of their father or mother can bring peace to that child, because now they know they're with someone who loves and cares for them.
The same goes for us and our heavenly Father. Our world around us can make us want to cringe in fear at all the things that come at us – but one look into God's face and we can experience that peace that passes worldly understanding because He loves us; we are His children. But we have to look for Him, literally SEEK Him out.
Psalms 105: 3,4 - Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
Then we have to change – God says we need to turn from our wicked ways. If we keep on doing things that God's said are wrong and we know are wrong – if we keep on sinning, why would we think that God would in any way reward us or do anything we would ask of Him. We can be like rebellious, obstinate children sometimes. We stand our ground and refuse to admit we've made mistakes or hurt others and believe we know it all, and then we come to the One Who does – and we refuse to change our ways – God have mercy!
Unresolved sin and an unforgiving spirit will never lead to a life of being in proper communion with God or of being healed from our hurts. Unless we are willing to come to God with a desire to CHANGE from what we are to what He can make us to be, we will go on in silence – we won’t hear God, because He doesn’t hear us.
IF my people will be humble, will pray, will seek me, and will turn – THEN I will hear from heaven – THEN I will forgive their sin – THEN I will heal their land. IF my people…
The question to us all is WILL WE? For if we want to see God move in our lives, in our families' lives, in the life of our church and throughout our community we need to do these 4 things. Humble ourselves, pray, seek Him, and stop doing the things that break God's heart and hurt others…otherwise, heaven will be silent.
If we ARE willing, the possibilities are as limitless as God's power. He responds to Solomon's prayer by saying that His eyes will be open and His ears attentive to the prayers of those in the temple.
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God is watching us. God is listening to us. And as long as we are truly seeking for God to be Lord of every part of our life and of this His church's life – he will hear us and I believe He will answer when we call out to Him.
IF MY PEOPLE PRAY…let's do that, now and always.
