The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 (day seven) 

What do you do when it feels like God isn’t hearing your prayers? What do you do when He feels far away? You may internally struggle with thoughts like, “I go to church. I go to Sunday School. I pray but nothing changes. I still don’t feel near to God. He isn’t hearing me.” Our passage of scripture helps answers that question directly: “Seek My face […] then I will hear” vs 14.

Jeremiah 29:12-14 (just after the heavily quoted verse 11) unpacks this thought more, “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you.”

What are you seeking with all your heart? What is the one thing that you just can’t seem to get your mind off of? If that answer is anything but God, it is going to make finding Him very difficult. God always hears us, but we often do not hear Him because we are seeking other things. Seek His face.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 (day six)

Then if my people who are called by my name… 2 Chronicles 7:14

These words were written to a people newly returned to Jerusalem after 70 years of exile. They had lived through the consequences of previous generations’ rebellion against God. (Vs. 19-22) They had to be struggling with who they were and whose they were. Much like the prodigal son, they likely couldn’t imagine being received as my people; servants or slaves maybe, but surely not sons and daughters.

Can you imagine what it must have been like to hear those words for the first time, a promise given to King Solomon-if MY people? While they had deserved God’s judgement, they were not forgotten or forsaken! God had made a way for his people to return to him, and just like the father of the prodigal son he was longing and waiting and running to receive them.

 

Re:Verse passage – 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 (day five)  “As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My ordinances,”

There is a “corporate” facet to the Christian life. God addresses a people. A nation. A body. But there is also (more importantly) a very personal and intimate facet to the Christian life. I must trust. I must follow. I must repent and believe. I have a friendship and relationship with God through Jesus Christ. In the Christian faith, there are no “coattails”or “grandfather clauses”. Each of us is accountable and responsible for our faith and for our growth.   Just as the Lord spoke to Solomon, He speaks to each of us- “As for you…”

Re:Verse passage – 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 (day four)

God’s promises and warnings throughout history have always been predicated on man’s response to Him.  Blessing would follow obedience, curse would follow disobedience.  In the Garden of Eden, on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal, now with Solomon…blessing will follow relationship, judgment will follow sin.

What story will history tell of America?  One nation under God…a nation founded upon a relationship with the Creator God…they were blessed for many generations.  Not only was America blessed, but other nations were blessed by them.  But the nation turned away from God!  Judgment and discipline were pronounced upon the nation.  Prayer was removed from the schools and public forums, obedience to the Word of God was shunned and ridiculed, worship was discouraged and honor was refused God.

Do we really believe that we can ignore Almighty God and not pay the consequences?  …and if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 (day three)

“…therefore he has brought all this adversity on them.”

There is adversity that arises no matter how we live. But there is also adversity that comes when we will do what we know to be unrighteous. The statutes of God give us a window into the life of heaven – ordering ourselves to God’s authority, looking after one another’s good, keeping our word to those around us, caring for our families, ceasing our labor, cultivating generosity, acknowledging the sacredness of human life. When we depart from these things, we will bring about – in ourselves and in others – heartache, misery, regret, abandonment, pain. It takes time, but we begin to heal the wounds in ourselves and others when we come back to the statutes from which we strayed. With God, there is a way back home.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 (day two) 

and My people who are called by My name…vs. 14a

I don’t remember the exact way that he used to phrase it, but I certainly remember what he meant. Whenever I would go on field trip, or to a camp, or just out with a group my dad would say things like: remember where you’re from, act like you should, and remember…you’re a Hufty. My actions, whether I wanted to accept it or not, were a reflection on my family. In a small town, that meant something. We weren’t Kennedys, Rockefellers, or Bushes, but my character was inevitably tied to my family name. Do you see how profound that is? God doesn’t just say if my people humble themselves. That would be something, wouldn’t it? We speak in terms of my team, or my ministry, or my country and we do so with affection and endearment. There are many things that bind those groups together, but God takes it a step further. He says, if my people who are called by my name…We have been grafted into a family whose head is the creator of the universe. That carries a different weight and authority altogether. Remember today that you bear the name of the LORD.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Chronicles 7:1-10 (day  seven)

“So Solomon observed the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him.” Vs 8

We baptists can get on board with this! In order to complete the dedication of the temple, the whole nation threw a feast! Sounds like a potluck of grandiose proportions!

Outside of backing up our doctrine of casseroles, this passage shows us the importance of celebrating what God has done for us. We are great at celebrating big occasions, but what would it look like if we began celebrating with each other on a regular basis? What if we began every Bible study by celebrating the good that God had done in our life that week? What if we began celebrating with our family before dinner how God worked in our life that day? We have a tendency to focus on the negatives that are in our life, but when we look for the good as a community, we will begin to see his daily mercies and gifts much more clearly. It sounds so simple, but our community will grow together when we celebrate together!

P.S. Celebrate the gift of our Moms today! Happy Mother’s Day!

Re:Verse passage – 2 Chronicles 7:1-10 (day six)

Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. Jude 24

In less than forty years Solomon turns from God and gives his devotion and attention to pagan gods. As goes the king, so does the people. Save the prophets of the Lord, the nation is rife with rebellion and the pungent stench of idolatry. It is hard to imagine how quickly they forgot their incredible encounter with God at the dedication of the Temple.

The irony is stark; as important as the Temple was to David, and then Solomon, there is barely a mention in the rest of the historical books (save during Josiah’s reign).

What a terrible reminder for us! How quickly we can exchange the glory and wisdom of God for our homemade (and destructive) idols!

Oh what a miserable person I am. Who will free me from this life of sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord! -Paul, Romans 7:24-25

Re:Verse passage – 2 Chronicles 7:1-10 (day five) 

“On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their homes, joyful and glad in heart for the good things the Lord had done for David and Solomon and for his people Israel.”  Isn’t it interesting that the scripture says that the people were “sent (away) to their homes”.  In my mind, I can picture a group that didn’t want to leave. They kept “congregating”.  Not in a hurry to get to lunch.  Not thinking about the to-do list.  Just soaking up the moment and experience that has gone on for days. Why?  Because they had a personal and powerful encounter with the Lord. Ever had those moments?  Ever anticipate those moments?  There is something captivating about being with other believers and (personally and corporately) experiencing God’s power and presence.  Don’t want it to end.  Don’t want to leave.  Want to linger.  Want to share that experience and enjoy the fellowship that it fosters.  May our Worship and Bible Study gatherings leave us in that kind of awe because of God’s presence and power through His Holy Spirit.

“The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.” Exodus‬ ‭33:11‬