If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
This oft-quoted Bible verse has four conditions for God’s people to meet before God will “forgive their sin and heal their land.”
This verse, first of all, is for God’s people. It’s not written for those outside the faith. God holds His chosen people to a higher standard than He does those who reject Him.
God spoke these words to king Solomon after the king offered a wonderful public prayer while dedicating the new, ornate temple (chapter 6).
If you’re familiar with the Old Testament, you know that God’s people – the nation of Israel – often did not meet those four conditions. Solomon himself did not meet those conditions.
When Israel repented of its sins and sought God’s forgiveness, He remembered this promise and honored it. When they rejected God and did their own thing, God honored that too – by not shielding the nation from the consequences of its actions.
God’s people today want Him to heal our land.
It’s not automatic. We, as Christians, have a role to play, too.
Humble themselves
My politics are truth, and yours are wrong. My rights are worth fighting for. God bless America (at the expense of other nations and peoples, if necessary).
God will not heal our land as long as Christians – Christians! – reject God’s holiness. That’s what we’re doing when we demand our way.
Read the book of Job. God took away all of Job’s blessings – wealth, family, even his health. His three friends offered encouragement, then judgment as they kept talking. When Job demanded an explanation from God, the living God reminded Job that He is God and Job is not – a pointed lesson in humility.
Job did not need to know why. He needed only to trust God for his needs and his future.
Job got the message, and God restored all things to him.
Pray
Most of our prayers are for safety or physical healing. These aren’t bad prayers, but their focus is on us – on God serving our needs.
When we suffer or are in pain, it’s hard to focus on anything else. I was talking with a friend at church this week who has overcome cancer and was diagnosed with lupus – he is in pain. While he talks about it, he doesn’t let it stop him from living life. He took a friend out on his sailboat on Saturday, something he does frequently. The itching hindered him, but it didn’t prevent him from sailing.
I’m sure he has a strong prayer life, because while he certainly wants relief from pain, he doesn’t live there.
“Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). This was Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane as he faced the cross.
My personal prayer life isn’t nearly that deep. I have a lot to learn from how Jesus (and others in the Bible) prayed.
Prayer is about developing a relationship with the living God. It’s not about, first of all, asking for things. God is not a genie. He is God.
And He is accessible.
Seek my face
We are challenged to pursue the living God. He wants to be known. That’s why Jesus Christ came to Earth: to show us how to seek and find God’s face.
Several psalmists write about seeking God. Matthew, Luke, Paul and the writer of Hebrews also sought God.
We do this intentionally. We don’t stumble into God. Well, we might at first, but for our sins to be forgiven and our land to be healed, we must pursue God. A conscious, willing decision.
Turn from their wicked ways
After we make that decision, we must act on it. We turn away from our wicked ways.
If we’re honest, I think we know what “wicked ways” means. It’s not just murder and worshipping idols, either – things other people do but not me or you, right?
Jesus said if anyone is angry with his brother, he’s “in danger of the fire of hell” (Matthew 5:22). If anyone lusts, he “has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
Guilty. Guilty.
This is why we must seek God’s face before we can turn from our wicked ways. In our own strength, we’ll never do it. Sin and temptation are too strong.
But the living God is stronger. If we pursue Him, He will take those desires away and replace them with pure desires.
This is a lifelong process. I haven’t arrived yet, not even close.
Where my heart is …
If we do not humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways, what then?
That means we are pursuing our selfish desires. There is no healing, in our hearts or in the land.
Where are our hearts? Are we pursuing God, even imperfectly?
If we are, then God is willing to work with us.
He forgave the Israelites repeatedly. They acknowledged their sin and sought His forgiveness. God said yes.
But every time, God demanded a response. He does from us, too.
God’s steadfast love is unconditional. Perfect. Never ending. Always forgiving. He upholds His end of the deal every time.
Our love, by contrast, is feeble. Often conditional. And many times, not love at all.
God still loves us. He created us. He died so that we could have a relationship with him – anyway.
If we humble ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, however feebly, God will honor that.
He will forgive our sin.
Healing of our land requires us to get along well with each other, despite our differences.
How well do we truly know the living God?
This will determine whether He will forgive our sins, and how well our land will heal.
Looking at the evidence, the United States has a long way to go.
Actually, the path isn’t that long.
Jesus said that path is narrow and few will find it (Matthew 7:14), but it’s open to every one of us.
Are we pursuing that path? Are we pursuing the living God?
the liberal conservative 