2 Chronicles 7:14
“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.”
Note: If you don’t have time to read this, skip down to the end and listen to the awesome song I posted a link to. It is very inspiring and encouraging.
In times of crisis, I hear this verse a lot (and boy, is our world in crisis now). People draw comfort from it. Sometimes they become zealous because of it, calling everyone to repentance of sin. This is not a bad thing. But I feel like sometimes the focus is not in the right place.
We, as Christians can tend to focus on the more overt sins of “others” - promiscuity, abuse, crime, whatever. Turn from your wicked ways, and our land will be healed. But we forget the first two commands in the verse.
First, we need to humble ourselves. OURSELVES. Not humble others. This involves a willingness to hear from God regarding what we ourselves need to repent of. The answer may be much less obvious things than the “big sins” we focus on.
It could be egotistical pride. Imagine what could be done in our states and countries if all the people, including leaders, worked together in humility! Or if we, including myself, would pray for our leaders instead of complaining about them or making fun of them?
It could be an insensitive attitude: “Why are they so upset? That’s not my fault.” (This is not a partisan statement; I think we’ve all been guilty of this.)
Maybe we need to repent of hopelessness or despair, which is in essence a lack of faith. Yeah, that’s the one that I’m struggling with the most lately. I know in my head that God is in control, but wow, it’s so hard to convince my heart of that sometimes.
That’s why I think the biggest miracles aren’t the obvious things we can see. Sure, the parting of the Red Sea or the feeding of thousands of people from a few fish and bread loaves and things like that are amazing, but I want to challenge us (yup, including me), to seek the unseen miracles. The miracles of the heart. First by humbling ourselves. And then by seeking His face.
This second step is just as abstract and seemingly elusive as the first one. But it is not as hard as we make it out to be. And it is crucial. Come to God with a humble heart, willing to listen. Ask Him where we need changes in our heart. We might not like what we hear. But it is for our best, for His glory, and evidently a necessary step for the wide-scale miracle of healing our land. And best of all, it brings us into a closer relationship with Him! Pour out your heart. The good, the bad, and the ugly. He can handle it. Changing your heart may take time. Hearing from Him may take time. That’s okay. Keep seeking Him. Keep pressing in. Keep an open heart, willing to listen.
And of course, we then need to act on what we hear. Turn our hearts to His ways, not our own. Repent of any “wickedness,” even if it’s not an action but a hardness of heart. Then, we will start to see miracles. Sure, we may not see a vaccine or cure for Covid-19 right away, or economic recovery from the damage done by it. We may not see full racial reconciliation in our community/country/world right away. But we will start to see small miracles in our own heart and in the hearts of those around us. And I believe that those small miracles have a cumulative effect.
We may need to come together as a church or a country in corporate repenting and lamenting our sins. In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel did this sometimes, and prophets and other leaders led and took part in a nationwide time of lamenting and repenting, even if the leaders hadn’t participated in the sin themselves. Ezra and Daniel are examples of this. I took part in the Be the Bridge book study here at CitySalt, and the author Latasha Morrison reminds us of this concept. It will definitely take humility and wisdom from God, which is why 2 Chronicles 7:14 starts out with those steps. It’s easy to say “I wasn’t part of that,” but if I have benefitted from it, I can still take part in the lamenting and repenting of it, and be a part of the miracle that God promises in the end of the verse. This is a polarizing concept in our country right now, and I don’t want to make anyone feel pressure for this regarding any specific issue we’re facing. I believe it will come about naturally if we are willing to come to God in humility and seek His wisdom by listening to the Holy Spirit, and acting on that.
I want to leave you with something that greatly encouraged my heart this week. At the Teen Challenge thrift store, I picked up a few used CDs, including a newer Kirk Franklin album. The second song is called, fittingly, “Miracles.” It’s about how we ourselves are God’s miracles. It inspired my thoughts for this post on how the biggest miracles are in our hearts. And it brought me hope and joy. Please take a few minutes to listen to it when you get a chance, because I think it may do the same for you.
Also, I found this article by John Piper to be helpful in understanding the miracle of God healing our hardness of heart so we can see Him more clearly: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/how-god-opens-the-eyes-of-the-heart
About the Author
Jessie is an educator, she currently teaches teens and has taught overseas. She is also a novice writer, with several books in various stages and a (long-neglected) blog about the journeys of women. She is very excited to be a part of the CitySalt blog team. She has been blessed by a few communities of Christian writers that have encouraged her dream. She lives with her trusty sidekick cat, Arwen in the foothills of South Eugene, where she can go hiking within minutes of the sun coming out from behind the clouds.