Walking in Troubled Times

II Chronicles 7:14 -- 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.

We are living in challenging times, for sure. Some of the issues being faced are unique, others have been around as long as man has been on the planet. Whether viruses, death, unruliness, or prejudice, they all have the same root: sin. Before Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, all was perfect. God gave man the ability to make logical choices and decisions and Adam and Eve chose their own selfish way and not God's. For thousands of years now man has reaped the results of sin. "Back in the day" we heard so many messages based on II Chronicles 7:14. Some points and comments.

• If - It is not a given that prayer will happen. So often we allow the trivial to get in the way of the important.

• My people - Prayer is only effective when offered by the people of God. Simply talking to someone with whom there is no relationship is an exercise in futility. If we want to see God work, we need to be close and intimate with Him.

• Called by my name - All men are the creation of God, but not all are the children of God. God speaks of His family, of those who are His children. What differentiates the creation from the family? We become part of the family of God, one of His people, when we accept His invitation. I cannot make myself a part of His family, only He can do that.

• Shall humble themselves - O, that is a great challenge. We spend most of our time trying to get ahead and then God asks that we take a step back. When we accept and acknowledge our place and His place, our role in the whole scheme of things, we should see that we are insignificant and yet God still chooses to love us.

• Pray - Know God come to our role and our great need, to communicate with Him. Prayer should be bi-directional, we speak with God and wait for the Spirit to commune with us, particularly through the Word. We need to pray and pray...and pray.

• Seek my face - We need to do more than talk, we need to implore God. We need to nag and insistently speak with Him. We need to pray fervently. It should be like to toddler in the toy section; ask, ask, and ask.

• Turn from their wicked ways - We need to be willing to correct what we have done wrong, to fix what we have broken. It seems so often that we want to have God bless without any willingness on our part to change. We need to step up and strive for Christlikeness. We need to move from wickedness to righteousness.

• The will I hear from heaven - God has promised to hear and answer our prayers. Even when we do not see the answer, He is at work. When we meet His requirements (see above) He is bound by His word to respond.

• Forgive their sin - It is interesting that the first thing that God looks to "fix" is the sin problem. He is interested in us, our relationship with Him, even before the "land" problem. Unless the sin issue is addressed, we are simply delaying the inevitable. We need to address our sin and have it forgiven if we want our prayers to reach the ears of God.

• Heal their land - It is God and God alone who can solve the ills that plague our land. He is ready and willing to heal, but there are requirements that need to be met first. Solving the problems begins with His people, the church, need to do more than sit back and fuss about everyone else. We need to reach out to God and beseech Him to move among our nation. Man does not have the ability to fix what is broken, but he is a part of the process. When we obey the Word and seek the God of the Word, then and only then will we see healing happen.