A People Deparing from God

 

1 Kings 8: 31-40

 

May 9, 2021

 

 

“If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house,  then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

 

 “When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers.

 

As you read these first two paragraphs, it would be wise to consider your nation: has it departed from the authority of the Lord, and maybe, yes, you need to ask, have I departed from the precepts of the Scriptures? 

 

“When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.

 

Often we will hear or quote 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  will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  I must tell you that most of us would not know how to be humble we have few examples of it in our world.  I have only met a few men that I was able to call humble men.  T.W. Hunt was such a man, he spoke several languages, wrote and published many books, was a professor of music, and a great teacher on prayer and walking with God.  I was honored to be his friend, and in one of our talks, he shared, “ Bob, I am a wicked man, I was shocked, how could he say such a thing about himself?  My reply was if you are wicked, I do not have a change, you are one of the meekest and godliest men I ever know.  As I gave thought to that it became clear, that T.W. was not comparing himself to other men, but to his master, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the older I get and the more time I’ve spent in prayer and the Scriptures,  I know that I also have wicked flesh, my mind often thinks on evil thoughts, I am often a Pharisee, wanting others to think more highly of me than both God and I know to be true.  So if we cannot be humble in our spirit, and action, can we expect God to honor our prayers?

 

“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind), that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.

 

The bottom line is, that we need to stop going to church, and Bible studies if we have no desire to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith.  2 Corinthians 13:5, is a great place to begin, and if you pass the test, then ask Jesus to show you how to allow Him to live His life in you, we have too many people who have great knowledge of the Scriptures but no application.  

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice