Online Bible Verses - 2 Chronicles 7:14 Humble Ourselves
“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.”
2 Chronicles 7:14
God speaking about His people Israel. So, it does not apply to me. I’m not an Israelite, right? Yes and no.
My pastor back in Binghamton, NY, said to me once, “We are, in a way, adopted Jews.” Grafted into God’s chosen. We are all God’s chosen, prospectively. He had to start with a remnant, via which He would lay down the law and use to bring His Son into the world. Had to preserve it and use it to open up His covenant to everyone. Could have chosen Italians, Africans or Native Americans as the vehicle, but did not. In the end game, it is all academic how He did it. It only matters that He did.
The recipe applies to all. Can we take a good hard look in the mirror, and realize a futility? Is there a sense that we are imprisoned by tendencies we know are not right? This became a reoccurring realization for me, for a time with no solution in sight. My mom told me once when I was little, to be aware of certain tendencies we had in our family. I had no idea what the heck she was talking about, but learned later these inherent tendencies had a grip on me that would manifest; and I had not enough strength within myself to resolve them. Paul said it well in Romans 7:24:
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
He felt it, not the first damn thing he could do. The solution, go to God for help. Be honest with ourselves, realizing good on a sliding scale is just another way of defining not good at all. Confess and ask the Lord for help, the type only He who is truly good can provide. That being a pardon based on penalty paid by Himself. He wrote the check I could not cash on my own. Something a dad would do, a Father who loves and forgives his kids. And, because He loves, would even die on our behalf. You would do it for your kids, and He did it for His.
