One of the great passages in all the Old Testament is the passage in 2 Chronicles 7 in which God tells Solomon that if his people will seek his face and humble themselves, He will forgive them and heal their land. Almost like a 'John 3:16' of the OT, we have leaned on such a passage every time the 'trickle down state' of America's morality has been a burden to us. Do you know where that answer to prayer came from? It came as a response to what Solomon prayed to God. Notice in I Kings 8 as we read today how Solomon sought the face of God after building the Temple:
“When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, 34 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers.
35 “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, 36 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.
37 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, 38 whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house, 39 then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways ( for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind), 40 that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers. - I Kings 8:33-40 (www.lifejournal.cc)
Solomon, overwhelmed at the opportunity to build the Lord's House, consecrated it to the Lord by speaking of humble prayer in times of defeat. We know from Solomon's own testimony that such thoughts were not always his greatest concern. He tells us in the book of Ecclesiastes that his spiritual life as a midlife adult was a blur as he experimented with everything the world had to offer him. However, from such an effort of building the Temple and such a prayer prayed, we know he started in the right place. As well, from the testimony at the end of Ecclesiastes, we know he ended in the right place. Isn't it a shame that there were wasted years in between the two?
It's really no more a shame than it is for us to waste years...months...days...or opportunities with the Lord.
I want to encourage you not to waste a moment. Seek the face of God. When sin hinders your life, take it to the Lord. When hardship comes, take your burden to the Lord. When questions come, don't ask everyone else. Ask the Lord. As v.38 says above 'knowing the affliction of your heart...stretch your hands toward...heaven.' We have an opportunity....let's not miss it today.
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