IF MY PEOPLE…
11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, 12 the Lord appeared to him at night and said: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. 13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 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. (2 Chronicles 7:12-14)
Thus, God revealed himself to Solomon at the inauguration of the temple, giving the very great promise of verse 14:
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray….
God has not changed since the days of Solomon!
But he has given US a better covenant, established upon better promises! (Heb. 8,6)
No longer does he dwell in a temple made with hands, he dwells in each one of us who believe in Jesus. (2 Cor. 6,16; 1 Cor. 6,19)
And he dealt with the problem of sin, when he laid it on Jesus on the Cross! By his stripes we were healed! (1 Peter 2,24)
I do not believe God sent the coronavirus to punish an unbelieving world (as I read that some do). I do not believe God “wants” this – in the same way that I do not believe he wants sickness or natural disaster of any kind (man-made or otherwise) to happen. These things are just part of the fallen, broken world in which we live, traceable back to Adam.
Nevertheless, I do believe the situation can open up minds to the Gospel message, and thus serve a greater good. Jesus’ teaching in Luke 13,1-9 is instructive!
A CALL TO PRAY!
Let us understand this:
God loves the world and he loves people! (Jn. 3,16-17)
Through the Gospel his arm is outstretched today, to save, to heal, to help and to bless!
In Christ he has come near!
What can we do, as Christians in the current situation?
We can humble ourselves and pray that he may heal our land!
Will God answer such prayers?
Yes, he will!
Does he want to?
Oh, yes he does!
A CALL TO REPENTANCE!
We need to humble ourselves and repent when we don’t believe this!
When we don’t really believe that God cares about suffering humanity!
In order to pray effectively, we must believe that he wants to help!
Let us humble ourselves, repent and ask forgiveness for a hardness of heart and for the sin of unbelief.
Let us pray that in these times, the Church of Jesus Christ may be strengthened to witness to the Gospel, to bring faith, hope, love, healing and solace to a suffering society.
Let us pray for our country, pray for its leaders, pray for medical staff and hospitals. Pray that they are successful in saving lives, and that we as a society are successful in mitigating extremely demanding circumstances!
Let us also pray for our families, our loved ones, our elderly, those who are vulnerable.
GOD ANSWERS PRAYER!
He is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of need! (Ps. 46,1)
I conclude by appending this song by a great Christian musician whom we tragically lost far too early in a plane crash: Keith Green!
The lyrics are from Psalm 51,10-12; a psalm that David wrote in a situation, different from the one the world is facing today, but about things that matter in all our dealings with God!