IIChronicles 7:14 Prayer

Over the years I've heard many sermons and songs that reference IIChr. 7:14. You know the passage:

"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." (ESV)

What has gotten my attention, though, is how all these sermons and songs play out on a practical level. Because it seems that all we hear is: "If my people who are called by my name pray, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Oh, occasionally we will pay lip service to humbling ourselves, and maybe even seeking God's face. But asking for forgiveness for our sins? That seems to have become a totally foreign concept, even among God's people.

So let's look a little more closely at the four elements of this passage:

1. Pray. Okay, this is the easy part. We still don't do it all that well or consistantly, but at least we know how to do this one.
2. Humble ourselves. Maybe. Occasionally. But with our proud frontier spirit of independence we don't do very well at this one.
3. Seek God's face. We've tried this one, but frankly, we just don't have the time. I mean, how long are we supposed to sit here seeking God's face anyway? I've got meetings to go to, the wife has to get the kids to soccer or girl scouts, or maybe she has meetings of her own to attend. God, we just don't have time for this one.
4. Turn from our wicked ways. Now just a minute there! I'm not a practicing homosexual or an abortionist; I'm not like THEM! So how can you accuse me of being a sinner? But in doing so don't we put the lie to ICor. 6:9-11, where God makes it clear that sin is sin, and reminds us that "such were some of [us]" ? This is especially true of sexual sin, since many of us seem to have this fixation on declaring homosexuality to be the ultimate evil while treating other forms of sexual sin as Respectable Sins (see Jerry Bridges' book by that title).

In our sermons and our songe we say that we want the benefits of IIChr. 7:14 prayer. But how can we reap the benefits of that prayer if we are unwilling to implement the entirety of the prayer? Because God says before He will "hear from heaven and will forgive [our] sin and heal [our] land" we must do all four things found in this passage, not just one or two.

James Duncan