"‘I did not give you any food in your cities, and there was not enough to eat in any of your towns, but you did not come back to me,’ says the Lord. ‘I held back the rain from you three months before harvest time. Then I let it rain on one city but not on another. Rain fell on one field, but another field got none and dried up. People weak from thirst went from town to town for water, but they could not get enough to drink. Still you did not come back to me,’ says the Lord. ‘I made your crops die from disease and mildew. When your gardens and your vineyards got larger, locusts ate your fig and olive trees. But still you did not come back to me,’ says the Lord. ‘I sent disasters against you, as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with swords, and your horses were taken from you. I made you smell the stink from all the dead bodies, but still you did not come back to me,’ says the Lord. ‘I destroyed some of you as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick pulled from the fire, but still you did not come back to me,’ says the Lord." (NCV)
Things in America seem to be pretty horrible if you’re a Christian. Day after day more articles appear in the media bemoaning how Christians are losing their rights, are being persecuted for their faith. In addition, despite our seeming advances in medicine, illnesses are increasing. Economies are failing. Social constructs, such as traditional marriage, are falling apart. In response, Christians are talking . . . and talking . . . and talking.
What we aren’t doing is praying. What we aren’t doing is repenting. What we aren’t doing is becoming more like Christ.
"When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 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 will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:13-14 NKJV).
Do you see the parallels between the Amos and 2 Chronicles passages? When difficult times came, the Lord’s desire was that the Israelites would turn away from their sins and turn back to Him. They didn’t.
"Still you did not come back to Me."
Not enough food. "Still you did not come back to Me." Drought. "Still you did not come back to Me." Inadequate production. "Still you did not come back to Me." Disasters and wars and destruction. "Still you did not come back to Me."
GMO foods that fail to nourish. Vaccines that harm rather than heal. Wars everywhere. Earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, and super storms. Wild fires, invasions, and unemployment. "American Church, still you did not come back to Me."
How do we ‘come back" to God? How do we return to the Church that He wants, that He longs for?
• Humble ourselves: The word humble means to submit and to not be assertive. It means to give up any "rights" we believe we have and to do only what God wants us to do. It also means to submit one to another. We are more concerned about the other person than ourselves. When coupled in the phrase "humble themselves and pray," it means to completely give ourselves over to God and His will, laying down any and every need that we think we have, trusting Him to provide and accepting His provision as complete.
• Pray: S. D. Gordan, a great saint and prayer warrior, once said, "You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray before you have prayed." American prayers tend to be in one of three categories: (1) Public prayers are often sermons to the hearers rather than communication with the Father. (2) "Purchase orders" where we tell God what we want Him to do, often using His own Word as a weapon against Him, demanding that He do what we want because He "promised" that He would. (3) Asking Him to bless us after the fact, after we have already made our decision or already done the action. Prayer isn’t about any of these things. Prayer is about going into the Father’s presence, worshiping Him and asking Him what He wants us to do. Prayer is about finding out what it is He wants and then doing it.
• Seek His face: There is a sense here of really wanting to get to know God, really wanting to be with Him. In conjunction with the other two parts, we see that we are to humble ourselves in prayer, earnestly seeking God, His will, His ways, His desires, His Word. And we are to do this diligently. That takes times. It means that we are going to need to turn off our devices, turn away from at least some of our recreational activities, and make prayer a priority everyday.
• Turn from our wicked ways: We cannot remain in sin and be in God’s presence. But it’s more than that. The Hebrew word for "turn" here is shub. "Shub can imply the cessation of something. In this sense, the word can imply ‘to go away or disappear’"(Vine’s). Our sins need to disappear, to go out of our lives. We need to turn away from our sin completely, absolutely, and for good. If we refuse to give up our sins, for whatever reason, God will refuse to heal our country. It’s that simple.
The way to solve the ills in America isn’t with elections or policies or finances. The way to heal America lies within the Church, the Church that is refusing to come back to the God that loves her. The Father has sent His messages of love through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus on the cross. He has sent His messages of warning through the disasters that we have faced (and continue to face). The question then becomes, "Will we come back to Him?" Humbling ourselves through prayer and seeking His face, turning completely away from our sin, these are our only hope! It’s time to stop talking and start doing what we know will work. It’s time we start doing what God has told us to do.
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com
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