Seeking His Face

             if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (II Chronicles 7:14)

 

            This is the verse for today because as I was walking and praying this morning, I couldn’t quote it. I’ve quoted it many times, but this morning, I was losing parts – and not always the same parts! Since the recent topics have been seeking God and building community, this verse is at least one of the keys.

            The problem is that this verse has been the basis for lots of commentaries, including mine. It’s easy to be tempted to skim over it. “Yeah…yeah…read that all before.”  But let’s try.

            If My people, who are called by my name. That’s Christians. That could be (according to their own thinking) the Jews or the Muslims, but it’s assuredly Christ-ians.

            Will humble themselves. This is a trouble spot. Some won’t humble themselves. As one of “His people,” they are better than anyone else. Even those who claim to humble themselves, or to submit to God (the meaning of the word, Muslim,) seem to have a lot of pride. In fact, those who pray this promise tend to do so when things aren’t going well, in hopes that God will defeat whoever is “Rome” and establish His eternal kingdom, with the capital where they live. But being humble means being willing for the land to be healed – and poor, powerless, and absolutely dependent on God for everything.

            And pray and seek His face. This is the connection to recent posts. Yes, we can each pray and seek His face separately, and we should, but that’s not the feeling that this verse exudes. To refuse to meet to pray is to refuse an opportunity to pray and seek His face, and that’s what this passage is all about.

            And turn from their wicked ways. There are lots of wicked ways that we need to turn from, but in broad terms, wicked ways are those that separate us from God and from God’s people. They are those ways that lower our standards of love for one another.

          Then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  This is the part that caught my attention this morning. We tend to think of “their land” as the whole country. The wrong people are in charge. If we do all those things, God will put the right people in charge, and everything will be wonderful again.

            But their land can just as easily refer to their state, county, city, neighborhood, or even home. It may even be able to refer to the land between the person’s ears and down into their heart. Again, there’s every reason to pray this passage for the nation, but all the others need the same prayer – and each time God fulfills His promise for a smaller “land,” He is answering for the bigger one, too.

            I need to refresh my mind in terms of the content of this verse, but I also need to be praying it and responding to it, too.