Repent

Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.  When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or command the locust to devour the land or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.  Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.  For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 

2 Chronicles 7:12-16

During this Advent season, as we prepare our hearts for the coming Christ and focus on Him with renewed focus, we should each ask ourselves, what is the condition of my heart and my relationship with Him?  As I move through the world today, what does my wake feel like –  will my interactions with others cause good or bad reactions?

How do you communicate your faith in Christ Jesus to the world around you?  Is it the cross necklace?  Do you post passages from Scripture?  Do you go out of your way to show genuine kindness?  Perhaps it is something entirely different.  However you communicate your faith, as believers we bear God’s holy name.  With that comes amazing blessing and incredible responsibility.

The passage above reveals that God’s people may behave in such a way that causes Him to deliver drought, swarms of locust, and pandemic, each designed to destroy, capture our attention, and cause us to repent.  God spoke to Solomon shortly after he dedicated the temple to God with all of Israel gathered for a week-long festival, with thousands of animals sacrificed, and prayer and worship.  After this time of worship, prayer and celebration, God communicated a warning and a promise saying,

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or command the locust to devour the land or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, 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

God indicates that He might cause drought and pestilence to encourage His people to pray, repent, humble themselves and seek God.  Certainly the calamity will impact everyone – His people and all the others in the region – but God delivers the calamity as a sign to His people.

As I read the passage this morning, I was struck by events happening in the United States today.  I have not heard of locust swarms devouring crops, but much of the nation is suffering from extreme drought – I recently drove I-40 across the Mississippi River and was surprised to see how low the river was, a shocking sign of the impacts of drought across central United States – and we have certainly become familiar with the concept pandemic over the past few years (the Hebrew word translated as “pestilence” in the passage above is transliterated as “dabar,” often also translated as plague or pandemic).  What are we to do with this?  Is God trying to get His people’s attention, His church’s attention, our attention?

God is sovereign.  He has all power and authority everywhere.  He is in control, so events like pandemic and drought are certainly within His ability to cause and correct, and sovereign God gives the solution.  He solves the riddle for us.  It’s like walking into an exam with all the answers.  As His people we must humble ourselves, seek God, turn from our wicked ways, then God will forgive our sin and heal the land.

How might that happen?  It happens the way it always has – one heart at a time beginning with each of us.  His people must return to God.  This begins by remembering God’s existence and acknowledging our separation from Him. 

In this land where people worship themselves, many dismiss the concept of God as irrational, many believe all people are fundamentally good, and sin has become a politically incorrect word, God’s holy word is no longer considered the truth, the plumbline for morality, the foundation of right and wrong.  Only God is good (Luke 18:19).  If we delude ourselves into believing all people are good, we see ourselves as god and sin is no longer possible, and in this deluded state of mind, the foundation of morality is destroyed, right and wrong become fluid concepts, and the line between good and evil is erased.

So we pray, asking God to soften hearts around us, to cause people to wonder, and to give us the words to say when our opportunity arises to speak.  We share the truth in love, but we remain vigilant to never alter the truth to satisfy our audience.  Always the truth.  Always in love.

Everyone is a sinner, separated from God.  But God came to earth as a man, fully human and fully God, to teach, to demonstrate how to live, to demonstrate God’s glory on earth, and to die so that we might gain life.  We each lack spiritual life, we are each dead in our sins, until that moment when we receive new life through Christ Jesus.  As Paul wrote,

But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.  Much more surely, therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.  But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.  Romans 5:8-11

Once we acknowledge God’s existence and see our separation from Him, the concept of repentance becomes tangible and God’s solution to the riddle of our pain becomes possible.  God urges us to pray, repent, humble ourselves and seek God. 

Repentance is turning away from evil and toward God.  This is the message running through the Old Testament.  The prophet Ezekiel writes,

But if the wicked turn away from all their sins that they have committed and keep all my statutes and do what is lawful and right, they shall surely live; they shall not die.  None of the transgressions that they have committed shall be remembered against them, for the righteousness that they have done they shall live.  Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live?  But when the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity and do the same abominable things that the wicked do, shall they live? None of the righteous deeds that they have done shall be remembered, for the treachery of which they are guilty and the sin they have committed, they shall die.  Ezekiel 18:21-24

The passage also warns against abandoning our faith, mentioning that it is possible for righteous people to turn away from God and pursue wicked ways and by so doing, incurring God’s wrath.  Followers of Christ must stay vigilant, focusing on God, pursuing God, praying, studying and serving God, humbling ourselves before Him and others, and continually repenting because we will be sinful people as long as we are on earth.

Repentance is also the message leading into Jesus’ ministry on earth.  As John the Baptist paved the way for the coming Messiah, he preached in the wilderness of Judea saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2).  As Jesus began His ministry, He traveled Galilee preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17). 

As you consider the world around you and God’s desire to capture our attention, please know that He is in control.  He is sovereign.  He has all power and authority everywhere.  Turn to Him.  Pray.  Study His holy word. Serve the holy One by showing His love, light and life to everyone you encounter.  And always be ready to share the good news of Christ Jesus to people around you. 

You are the bearer of His holy name.  May people around you see God’s glory through you.  Amen.