When My People Pray

That verse in 2nd Chronicles is easy to misuse.

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 and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chron 7:14)

"Misuse?" you may ask. Yes. The text was to Israel who had a Promised Land. We don't. "I will ... heal their land" is a promise to Israel, not us. Further, Israel was promised here that if they did what He said, "then I ... will forgive their sin," and we have a better promise. Our sin is forgiven already (Rom 6:10; Heb 10:10). If we -- believers -- fail to humble ourselves, pray, and seek His face, we're still forgiven.

Here's the thing. The text as it is commonly understood urges us to humble ourselves, pray, and seek His face, and those are good things for us. More to the point, shouldn't they be primary, basic, ongoing? Shouldn't we people whose lives are marked by this continually? If we serve our Lord Jesus Christ, shouldn't we be humble, prayerful seekers of His face.

We are God's people. We are joint heirs with Christ. We are His holy ones, His saints. Why is it that Christianity is not memorable for the humility of its adherents? Our primary leader -- Jesus Christ -- was the model of humility, and we are constantly reminded in Scripture to be humble ... like Him. How is it that we are not primarily pray-ers? Why would it be that prayer comes hard to us? "No, it doesn't," some might object, but look at the facts. Prayer meetings in churches, once a staple, have been largely discontinued ... for poor attendance. Why would we not be marked as people seeking God's face? But, we're not. We're pretty well known as the keepers of morality or the self-righteous (an actual contradiction of Christianity) or the like, but we are not best known for our devotion to all things "God." Why not?

The verse in 2nd Chronicles is easily misunderstood, but it's a good one. No, we don't get a promise we can save America if we pray. No, our forgiveness is not contingent on our humility. But if we are His people, we ought to be pursuing humility, ought to be praying, ought to be seeking His face. A good reminder, then. Direction is helpful. Conviction, too, if necessary.