One God, One Focus, a healed land ( 2 Chronicles 7:14)
2 Chronicles 7:14 The of chapter 7 is the dedication of the temple and the establishment of the reign of King Solomon.
- To understand the context of 7:14 we need to start at the beginning of the chapter.
2 Chronicles 7:1-3 In the Middle of the dedication of the Temple God pours out His glory and fills the Temple with his Presence to the Point that the Priests could not enter.
- 2 Chronicles 7:4-5 Notice it says all the people. This was not just King Solomon.
- The people were offering sacrifices on top of what King Solomon offered.
- In response to God pouring out his glory there was extraordinary and extravagant worship from the people.
- 2 Chronicles 7:11-12 After the dedication of the Temple the Lord appears to him.
- 2 Chronicles 7:13 A reference Bible, will you tell you that this verse refers to Duet 11.
- Deuteronomy 11:15-17 Here we see the reference to “shut up the heavens” we see in 2 Chronicles 7:13.
- In Deuteronomy 11 God is warning the people, if you follow other gods, I will remove your blessings, provision, and protection. Then here in 2 Chronicles 7:13 God is reminding them of this.
Now we can jump into 7:14 It starts with “if my people”
- Who are His people? In the day this was written it was the Hebrew people. The Israelites, the Jews.
- In our day this would be the people who follow the ways of Jesus.
- The Next phrase is very important. “Who are called by my name”
- By what name? This would be the names Yahweh and Elohim.
- Those people who have the names of Yahweh and Elohim written on their hearts.
- He is making a clear Distinction from the people who follow Baal and other gods of the day.
- This statement of “who are called by my name” is very much tied back to verse 13 and the call to remember Duet 11.
- Now the next phrase, “will humble themselves and pray.”
- The verb form is a Conjunctive imperfect.
- An Imperfect verb is used generally to indicate an action that is not complete or in the future.
- You could say that he being humbled is an ongoing or future process.
- Pride is an enemy of God. James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
- Humility before God then is a requirement for effective prayer.
- Wat does that mean in the context of prayer?
- Don’t assume on God.
- The people of the day were presuming on God and wanting Him to do things their way.
The next word in this phrase is “pray.” In Hebrew the word means to intercede or intervene.
Then the next phrase is and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
- Seek His face is another conjunctive imperfect. The seeking is again ongoing.
- The word can mean to seek or search.
- In the bible seeking the Face of God always speaks of intimacy.
- We are praying from a place of intimacy. Knowing God
- This is the antidote to being proud.
- When we have this level of intimacy with God, we cannot be proud.
- The next phrase turn from their wicked ways.
- People want to insert and force their own understanding of what the wicked ways are. Our own pet peeves.
- We tend to point to other people, and say if they turn from their wicked ways.
- Then we come up all kinds of “wicked” things we perceive them to be doing.
- So, then, what did God mean by wicked ways??
- This goes back to the beginning of the verse. “The People called by my name.”
- Which very much ties back to verse 13 that reminded us of Deut 11.
- The Phrase turn from your wicked ways in 2 Chronicles 7:14 means turn from the other gods you are following.