Wednesday, June 6, 2018

2 Chronicles 6:28-30 -- On Trials, Prayer, and Repentance

"If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be:
Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:
Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:)"
2 Chronicles 6:28-30


This is Solomon dedicating the temple.  I like the all-encompassing nature of this part, where he basically says if anything bad happens, then please help. :)  We all know our own sores and our own griefs as individuals, apart from the suffering of others, but God also knows, because he knows all of our hearts.  We never have to feel alone or isolated because of our suffering, if we reach out to God in prayer for help.

I like also that forgiveness is part of helping us out in our times of trial.  Perhaps we all need a little bit of forgiveness before we can really be on the same page with God, since we so often forget him.  When things go bad and we remember him because we finally feel like we need his help, we have some repenting to do about all that time in between this crisis and the last one, where we didn't quite keep us with our communication and our promises.

The last part that is both very cool and also a little scary is that God will render to us according to all our ways.  That could be amazing, and it is definitely meant here as a blessing, but it also is somewhat scary just because it means that we'll be blessed according to our own actions--which means that we probably have to consider our ways (Haggai 1:5,7) and repent.

Today, let's repent and work on our desires and actions, so that when God blesses us according to our actions and desires that will be a good thing. :)  Let's also remember to call on the Lord whether it is a time of trial for us or not. :)  None of us have to be alone in anything that we are going through, because God really does know how we feel and think and everything in our hearts.  It's a good message to internalize, and also to share: Prayer works.

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