“If My People”

II Chronicles 7:12-14

12 And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.

13 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall 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.

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I’m crawling my way through Chronicles. That doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying it. Actually, each time I read through these two Chronicles I get blessed in increasing measure. I’m crawling because I’m purposefully taking my time, even through the genealogies. That’s not to say it isn’t tough at times.

I’m in the section of II Chronicles where Solomon has finished his building program. It’s time now to dedicate himself, the priesthood, and the people to God. And to do that, Solomon offers up some incredible words in prayer to God. I love to read these words which were uttered so long ago and still speak with fresh reality even in our time.

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As I’ve related in the past, the very first message I preached was from this passage. I was scared to death. I’d never spoken in front of people like that before. I had been recently saved within the year. I was 19 and had no idea how to put a sermon together, no less preach it. So I did the only thing I knew to do …

PRAY

I poured out myself to God on the floor in my bedroom. I don’t remember how I knew this passage. The only thing I can think is that I must have been recently reading there.

I shared with the pastor’s son the passage from which I was going to preach. He proceeded to inform me that the previous summer they had a well-known youth organization come to the church. They had been there for a week of messages and ministry.

Their theme verse was the same verse I wanted to preach from: v. 14. The inference in his comment was like: “What do you think you can add to what they already said during a whole week of services.” That made sense to me, but I went ahead anyway. I ended up speaking for 45 minutes. I was lost in the wonder of the moment. So much so that, almost literally, time stood still for me.

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But here’s what has stuck with me all these years about this passage …

For God to heal the Land (any land), first and perhaps foremost, His people need to acknowledge their need to repent concerning their part in the demise of the land.

In other words, I concluded in preparation for that first sermon of mine that …

I can’t attribute the blame for the slow destruction of our Country, primarily and exclusively, on the lost. I have to first, and perhaps foremost, look at my own life as a believer. And it’s from that vantage point by which we can begin to address our families, our congregations, and our Nation. We are the ones that need to get our acts together if we expect the lost world to change.

If our Country is unraveling into a slow death (which it is) we really have no one to blame but ourselves, the believers in Christ. If you think that is too unfair or harsh to say, I don’t know how else to explain what has been happening right before our very eyes … for decades. Either the Devil and his crowd are super strong or God and His crowd are super weak. And since we know God isn’t weak then … it has to be us.

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“If my people … “ That’s us. The focus in this passage is on us, not the world.

Now …

The interesting thing is that Solomon got off to a great start. God blessed Him and the kingdom beyond any one’s wildest expectations.

But …

Little-by-little Solomon let in a little leaven here and and little leaven there. And eventually, he actually helped establish pagan worship centers for his many heathen wives. It was a slow slide. God, to whom he had pledged himself at the very beginning, was pushed to the side and marginalized. Each accumulated little compromise didn’t seem so big in the moment. But eventually, over time, a huge snowball of compromises collected and then …. You know the rest.

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“If my people … shall … “

That’s the way revival works. It’s not, at first, the lost getting saved. It’s God’s people confessing their sins before their God with brokenness. Then God will hear and help bring about the changes in their lives that otherwise couldn’t be done on their own. God’s people need to be brought back to “life” before the lost world can be brought to new life in Christ.

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I don’t know what’s going to transpire in the coming days for our Country. In one sense, I’m getting tired and worn out focusing on it. But what I do know is this …

It’s time for me and it’s time for you to look within our own hearts and —

Humble OURSELVES, and pray, and seek God’s face, and turn from OUR wicked ways.

It’s time to dig through the trash in our own lives.

That is —

“If” … you’re willing.