2 chronicles 6-7

Read 2 Chronicles 6-7 at Bible Gateway.

Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 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 will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chr 7:12-14

Israel has been under drought conditions for a few years now, and we in the US are as well. Even here in Florida we are under water restrictions. And of course, we have other signs of the curse in our land: we have the unrighteous ruling over us, we have enemies, we have a large nation on our southern border getting ready to fail, which would cause massive border problems for us. Our economy is tanking, our children are embracing the world, and our churches – many of them – are cold or at best lukewarm. We have error being taught in the church as truth, so the salt of the earth (the church) is losing its savor, and is fit for nothing more than to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

So what is the solution to this problem, the problem of the curse in our land? God did not say for the homo[s-x]uals to repent, or the wiccans to repent, or the atheists to repent. But it is the LORD’s people, those who are called by His name, whom He desires to repent. I used to think, Hey! We are the only ones living right!

But the fact of the matter is, the vast majority of the LORD’s people do not fully obey Him or obey His Word. And how did I discover this, that I wasn’t fully obeying Him when I thought I was? By the very things coming upon me, that the Scripture says will come upon a person who does not obey the LORD (Deu 28). Make no mistake: God does not abrogate His Word just because someone is a good church goer who serves in the children’s ministry faithfully and who tithes without fail. When I started to read and search and ask, the LORD showed me, just as He will show anyone who will search and ask.

What are the wicked ways that the LORD’s people need to repent of? Wickedness, we learned, is whatever the LORD defines as wickedness, not what man defines as wickedness. God’s Word contains His definition of righteousness and sin. It is righteous to honor your father and mother, your husband and leaders for the LORD’s sake, even when what they do is not honorable. It is wicked to mouth off to parents, husbands, and leaders, or to disregard them.

It is righteous to rest on the Sabbath and to labor not for bread on that day. It is wicked to treat that day as a common day just like every other day. It is righteous to honor the LORD on His appointed feast days. It is wicked to treat His appointed feast days as a common day just like every other day. It is righteous to abstain from eating that which the LORD has defined as unclean. It is wicked to consume as food what the LORD has forbidden as food for His people.

It is righteous to honor the vows spoken with the mouth. It is wicked to break one’s word. It is righteous to not bear false witness against neighbors. It is wicked to agree with the enemy’s accusations against a neighbor, even if that neighbor is a spouse or coworker. It is righteous to love the LORD your God with all the heart, all the soul, and all the strength, and it is wicked to relegate Him to a corner of the heart and allow other things to be more important. These are the kinds of things the LORD desires His people to repent of, and to return to Him with a whole heart.

The good news is, even though our leaders are doing the wicked things they are doing, and the country is in the mess it is in, if the church would repent and return, the LORD would heal our land. Isn’t that awesome?!!!