As we read in 2 Chronicles 7, we see God giving a promise and a warning to Solomon about the relationship between God and His people. We should pay attention. God does not change. This gives us insight into our relationship with our Father still today.
God’s Promise and Warning
11Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king’s palace, a
nd successfully completed all that he had planned on doing in the house of the LORD and in his palace.
12Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14and 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, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15“Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. 16“For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 17“As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, 18then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.’
19“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21“As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ 22“And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.’”
Keep in mind that this is all about God’s people. It is not about “those non believers” who live among us. It is those who follow Yahweh, remembering that Yeshua is the way to the Father.
“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, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Yes, those who identify as followers of Yeshua need to turn from their wicked ways, often where they have blended and mixed with culture around them instead of being holy, being set apart. We need to humble ourselves, pray, seek God, and repent. This is a recipe we should embrace today. Our nation is very wicked and continuing to trend away from God and toward more wickedness. We need God’s help.
We should also heed the warning. Our obedience to His statutes and commandments is important to Him. And do not dismiss this as “Old Testament” or “Before Christ”. Yeshua Himself spoke of this and is recorded in multiple scriptures such as John 14:15 (“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.)
19“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21“As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ 22“And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.’”
Ask God to open your eyes for how this applies to our nation and to ourselves today. Do not dismiss it. We are very much in need of repentance among God’s people and our nation is in need of healing.
I invite you to pray with me:
Father, please open the eyes of Your people to their sin and the sin of their nation. Please lead us to a place of humility and seeking You in prayer. Help us to understand and turn from our wicked ways and pursue You wholeheartedly. Help raise up leaders among Your people to lead them in repentance and prayer and in taking action to recapture godly values in our society. Amen.
Shalom
Devotion by John in service to Christ
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