2 Chronicles 7:11-22
11So Solomon finished the Temple of the Lord, as well as the royal palace. He completed everything he had planned to do in the construction of the Temple and the palace. 12Then one night the Lord appeared to Solomon and said,
“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place for making sacrifices. 13At
times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command
grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. 14Then
if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray
and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from
heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 15My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place. 16For
I have chosen this Temple and set it apart to be holy—a place where my
name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is
dear to my heart.
17“As for you, if you faithfully follow me as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, 18then
I will establish the throne of your dynasty. For I made this covenant
with your father, David, when I said, ‘One of your descendants will
always rule over Israel.’
19“But
if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the decrees and
commands I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, 20then
I will uproot the people from this land that I have given them. I will
reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make
it an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. 21And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled. They will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’
22“And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord,
the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and they
worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them. That is why he has
brought all these disasters on them.’”
“[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, will forgive their sin and will heal their land”(2 Chronicles 7:14).
King Solomon reigned over Israel. In 2 Chronicles 6, Solomon had just finished building God’s temple and had offered up a prayer of dedication. In this prayer, Solomon was basically saying that he wanted to lead this people as God wanted him to lead. After the prayer, God’s glory came down to the temple and filled it. The people offered sacrifices and held a feast. Later that night, the Lord appeared to Solomon and told him that if the people ever rejected His ways and turned away from Him, the prayers of His people would be heeded.
God will deal with a nation that turns its back on Him. If a culture wants to be free of God, He will let it have that freedom. But freedom from God brings dire consequences. Unbelievers do not normally turn to God when things get rough. But this Scripture isn’t addressing unbelievers; it is addressing “My people who are called by My name” (v. 14). The people who are supposed to pray for their nation are God’s covenant people. In the Old Testament, His covenant people were the Jews. In the New Testament, the covenant people are the church—the body of true believers who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Sin-bearer and Redeemer.
God will pay attention to our prayers when we come to Him humbly, seek His face, and turn from our ungodly behavior.
