2 Chronicles 7:12-20
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. For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer in this place. As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail a man as ruler in Israel.’ “But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
Context is everything. How many times have we read 2 Chronicles 7:14, and run off rejoicing because we believed it was the summation, and complete word of God to Solomon regarding His promise to deliver His people? What’s more, is that we’ve internalized this scripture and made it applicable to us, and all our many issues. And I don’t have a problem with that (because I know what God can do) but I take exception with the fact we generally don’t finish the passage before making that conclusion. The promise of, ‘if my people’ is followed by an equally significant promise, ‘if not’. The same God that has promised to bless us when we comply to His will, is the same God that has promised to punish us when we do not.
Truth cannot be subjective, arbitrary or capricious. One of the challenges of modernizing the Word of God, is balancing societal instincts and biases with the immutability of the presentation of the Gospel. We unadvisedly try to attribute human emotions, attitudes, means and measures to a supernatural power beyond our capacity to comprehend. And that doesn’t work. God is not a man. God is not human. God is a Spirit. We can only perceive Him, as He reveals Himself to us through the Spirit. Consequently, truth…real Truth, is not acquired through study, intellect, thought, or genius. Truth comes only from God. His Word is Truth. His words are truth…personified. By attributing anything we think or feel to the character and person of God reduces Him. Our attributions make Him less than the God that He is. He becomes an idol, a creation of our feeble minds, and our overwhelming lust. By doing so, we position ourselves in a place of control; demanding God honor us…our praise, our sacrifice, our worship and our many request.
What is it God requires? 2 Chronicles isn’t about a prayer meeting. It isn’t a recipe to appease God through a few revivals and worship services. 2 Chronicles is about corporate repentance. It’s about total submersion in His will; not our own. We’ve turned our prayers into a virtual beg-fest, where we ask God for this that and the other, and totally expect He is obliged to give it to us. This is because we’ve miscalculated His character. We’ve lost our reverence. We’ve lost a healthy respect for who God actually is. He’s not simply a God that gives, but he is a God that demands. Irrespective of popular opinion, theological hi-jinks, pulpit hyperbole, denominational dogma, or tradition, God is the same today as He has always been, and will forever remain. The God that brings sunshine is the God that brings rain. The God that gives blessings, is the God that hands out punishment. God is not one of our contemporaries, expanding, learning, adapting and developing. No! God is totally and utterly complete. There is no error or turning with Him. The Church, the Gospel, the Kingdom, nor God’s servants are subject to carnal supervision or governance. We are all subject to the sovereign rule of God. Period.
Conclusion. Dear Child of God, until you become more fearfully reverent of the “ if not “, than you are excited about the “if”, you will continuously find it challenging to walk upright before God. Just walking in the “if” will have you languishing in selfishness, but “if not” brings you to the place of truth and responsibility. I love that I can count on God in every situation. But the question this morning is, can He count on us? He will greatly bless you if you do right. But if you don’t…
God Bless
