July 4, 2010 Pastor Tim Pusey
MY PRAYER FOR AMERICA
2 Chronicles 7:11-22 (esp. 14)
July 4, 2010
It’s the 4th of July!—our nation’s birthday! As a country, we’re 234 years old! What’s strange about saying that is that I have vivid memories of our bicentennial celebration—our 200th birthday in 1976, now 34 years ago! There were all kinds of celebrations going on all over the United States, and, of all times, I was a college student serving out of the country that summer in our missionary endeavors in the Dominican Republic. We were along the coast that evening, and I remember looking out over the waters that evening and wondering what all was going on in my homeland! Actually, Ron Galloway and I were together for that July 4th! Amazing, huh?
Another July 4th I recall took place 3 years ago when Cindy and Krista and I were all out of the country once again—this time in the Ukraine. The volunteer missionaries who were coordinating our trip surprised us that evening with fireworks—which were pretty amazing, especially when you think of the fact that it’s a poor country in so many ways and the fireworks they set off would have been fairly expensive in the U.S.A. Besides that, not too many years before that we’d have probably been arrested if we’d celebrated the U.S.’s birthday in what had been the old Soviet Union!
I suppose many of us can remember going to see fireworks displays on the 4th of July with family and friends across the years. When we lived in San Jose, we’d often go to a fireworks display just down the road from the home of our friends George and Carol. We took all three kids when they were little, but had to take the girls—probably a year old at the time—back to the house because they were absolutely terrified with the noise! In Kansas City, we’d often go to the home of one of my staff members who lived in a community that was incredibly tolerant of fireworks. I’ve never seen anything like it before in a neighborhood! It was like a war zone! We knew people in the area who spent a couple thousand dollars each year on fireworks!
When we think of the United States of America, we think on one hand of our national heritage, steeped in sacrificial patriotism and of those who put their lives on the line in order that we might live in a land of great freedom. In that sense, we are such a blessed group of people—particularly when you consider the oppression under which some people live in some countries. On the other hand, I think that many Christians today, in thinking about our nation, are gravely disappointed that our nation seems to reflect Christian values less and less with every year. We have real fears about where we’re heading as a country and as a culture.
No doubt, there are a lot of current land mines with which our country is dealing that have serious moral repercussions. I think the thing that disturbs me the most right now is the move toward broadening the very definition of marriage to include same-gender unions, and the impact that would have upon our nation and our culture—seemingly thumbing our noses at God and the sacredness of His plan and design for marriage between a man and woman. The political battles regarding this and other issues are fierce and seem endless and can be absolutely consuming.
Beyond the moral issues are concerns like our financial instability—which sure showed its ugly head once again this week, didn’t it? There’s the constant undercurrent of fear of terrorist attacks, made forever real to us by the events of 9-11. There are the realities of a seemingly endless war in the Middle East. And then there are disasters like the Gulf Coast Oil Spill that threaten to change the lives of some people forever—they’re starting to say now that it’s the worst oil spill in history. There are also the natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes which seem to come upon us one after another.
The truth is that we have a lot of hurting people in America right now. Someone loaned me a movie a few weeks ago that they were encouraging me to watch—called “The Cinderella Man.” It’s really quite a good story about a man who turned to boxing in the early 1930’s in order to feed his family during the Great Depression. What really gripped me in the movie was the desperation in which people were living during the Great Depression—and the reality that we have people living with that same kind of desperation today.
All of this could just really be consuming to us if we let it. It could be a dark cloud under which we live every day—and there are certainly people who live under that dark cloud! The concerns about what’s happening in our country could destroy our peace of mind, and bring a spirit of despair and hopelessness upon us.
What are we to do? Are we to give into despair? Are we to lose hope? How are we to respond to all these things?
There are certainly times for Christians to get involved in the battle and “fight the good fight”! I’m certainly appreciative of Christians who seem to be especially equipped to jump into the political arena to battle in ways few can do. Honestly, I can’t imagine ever wanting to be a politician—it just sounds like a torturous way to spend your life! But I bless those who help us in these ways! Even still, what quickly becomes apparent is that these battles are bigger than we are.
Most of us here today are Americans—and those who aren’t are either living in this country now or have chosen to visit this country. I’m proud to be an American and I don’t ever want to take for granted the blessings we have enjoyed in this country. I’m grateful for those blessings. However, I do not believe that “American” and “Christian” are synonymous terms. Thus, our purpose in coming together this morning has been to worship the Lord—not to “worship” America in any way. This day was ordained as a day of worship long before it became the birthday of our nation—so I don’t want us to confuse our purpose. But since our context for worship today is in the United States on a day that our whole nation recognizes as a celebration of our independence, it seems appropriate for us to consider how we as Christians might appropriately respond to our national identity.
So, in thinking of this day, I’ve diverted from our summer sermon series on life lessons from the heroes of the Bible in order that we might center in on God’s words to another nation. Turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 7—
[Read 2 Chronicles 7:11-22, NIV]
Let’s look at this passage in two ways this morning. I want us to first get an understanding of what was intended by these words to its original audience, but then I want us to apply those truths to our situation today here in America.
To understand what these words meant to the Israelites who first heard them, you have to understand the special relationship that Israel had with the Lord God. It was a sacred relationship. It was based on the covenant God made with a man named Abraham many years before; and it was a covenant renewed over and over again with the generations that followed—among the people we know as Israelites or the Jewish people. God’s promise was that He would bless them if they were obedient to Him. The entire Old Testament tells the faith journey of the Israelites—and how they experienced times of blessing when they were faithful to the One true God and how they experienced deep despair in the times when they wandered away from God and embraced the gods of the pagan people around them. In what seemed like a persistent way, the Israelites kept turning their back on God and experienced the punishment of God for their actions. And yet, over and over again, God would forgive them and restore them once again—only to find that in their times of blessing they would once again turn away from the Lord. Woven through the pages of the Old Testament was the hope that God would send a deliverer to them who would be their savior forever.
The New Testament reveals Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior. And after His death and resurrection and His ascension into heaven, the Early Church was entrusted with Christ’s mission in this world. In so many ways, the Jewish people had rejected their messiah—Jesus—and the hope God had sent to them through Him. What God made clear to the Early Church leaders was that this Savior was for all people, Jews and Gentiles, all around the world.
But our context in this Chronicles passage is still in the Old Testament. David’s son Solomon was now King of Israel. He had built a royal palace and tremendous temple to the Lord in Jerusalem—and had just gathered the people for a great dedication ceremony, asking for God’s blessings upon the Temple and upon them as a people. And what we read was God’s response to Solomon’s prayer.
One of the central themes of the Old Testament is that God blesses those who follow faithfully in His ways and brings devastation upon those who refuse to do so. But too many times, the people had experienced the wrath of God because they kept falling into their old ways, sinning against the Lord. The Lord’s words to the people through Solomon that day revealed again the promise of God’s redemption and restoration and blessing if the people would repent—
“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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
One thing was clear: God will not tolerate sin. He forgives sin, but only when the sinner is repentant of their sins—“repentance” referring to turning away from our sins. Too often the Israelites—like us—would ask God to forgive them from their sins and plead with Him to restore their relationship with Him, and yet they’d go right back to the sins that alienated them from God before. It reminds me of the child who is forced by an adult to apologize to another child for taking their toys—who then grabs the toy back as soon as the adult leaves the room! Repentance is a matter of heart and mind—a mental and spiritual realignment of our will with God’s will.
God’s word to the people through Solomon that day was a message of hope and restoration—if they would turn from their sin and truly seek the Lord. They needed to hear that. But they also needed to hear the rest of what the Lord said. God minced no words in warning them that devastation would come upon them if they did not turn away from their sins to follow Him—it’s the other side of the coin.
And what God had warned against was exactly what ended up happening—Solomon and most of the kings who followed him bowed down to other gods and failed to keep their covenant with the One True Living God who had responded to them with such love and compassion. The nation of Israel was severed in two. Eventually both nations were destroyed, people were killed, and those who remained were uprooted and taken en masse to live in exile in a foreign country. It was exactly what God had warned them of.
Do you believe that God punishes evil in people’s lives? If you doubt that He does, read again verses 19-22 in this passage. They’re pretty harsh words of warning—words that were realized as Israel failed to heed the warning. Let me ask you another question: Do you believe that God punishes evil nations? Scripture seems to say a definite “Yes” to that! God made it clear that sinful people would eventually suffer the consequences of willful departure from God’s will. In other words, we can’t ignore God’s ways and get away with it forever. At some point, it will catch up with us!
And yet—when we look at the passage we’ve read as a whole—we find that where sin abounds, grace abounds even more! Does that mean that God simply overlooks sin and blesses people despite it? No—scripture doesn’t say that. But God does promise that when the sinner becomes repentant—truly sorry for the sins and willing to turn from them—He will forgive the sin and bring healing and restoration! And that’s how we have hope, friends! We can’t deny the problem of sin in our lives—and yet God promises forgiveness and healing.
There’s a powerful description of the prayer of repentance in verse 14—
“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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Seeking God’s face is a spiritual attitude of turning to God and allowing His will to prevail in our lives. You can’t truly look God in the face and not be genuine in what we’re saying—He knows us too well for it to be otherwise. This is more than a glib reciting of some kind of prayer formula—and it’s more than saying the right words; it’s having the heart right in what we’re saying.
And God promises to honor such a prayer and wipe the slate clean. He even promises to bring healing where there was failure and loss. He promises to restore us—and it’s a powerful thing!
So what does this prayer from 2 Chronicles have to say to us today—to Americans on the 4th of July? First and foremost, I hear the promise of healing and redemption for the people of our nation if we will turn from our sins. Verse 14 of this chapter is probably the best known and most loved verse in all the two books of Chronicles. It expresses, as no other passage in the Bible, the stipulations that God lays down for a nation to experience His blessing, whether that nation be Solomon’s or our own. To be blessed, we must be willing to acknowledge sin and turn from living proud, self-centered lives. We must hear God’s Word and apply His truths to our lives. We must yield our desires to the will of God.
And if we will, God honors the prayer of repentance and promises to bless us. Here’s the hope for America! And the hope is not found in a political party nor in a particular leader nor in economic development nor in power nor control. Our hope as a nation is in the Lord—and may we never forget it! His word to us is clear—
If I ever shut off the supply of rain from the skies or order the locusts to eat the crops or send a plague on my people, and my people, my God-defined people, respond by humbling themselves, praying, seeking my presence, and turning their backs on their wicked lives, I’ll be there ready for you: I’ll listen from heaven, forgive their sins, and restore their land to health. (2 Chronicles 7:13-14, The Message)
God is the One who can bless America or any other nation—but that blessing is not found in ourselves, but in submitting to His ways!
Herein lays the divinely imposed condition of faithful obedience. God will bless us if and only if we walk in His ways. If we fail to do so, we will face the devastation God promises to those who defy Him and ignore His ways.
I grew up in an era in America when fearing about our future as a nation was as All-American as baseball and apple pie! My grandparents spoke often of their grave concerns of communism taking over our nation. We did nuclear disaster drills at school—and I still remember the signs leading into the basement of the school which indicated it was a nuclear shelter. We feared a nuclear attack on our country. Today our fears are a bit different, but we certainly have fears in America. And they’re real!
Do I believe that everything bad that happens is punishment from God? No…but I do believe that there are times when God allows devastation to come upon people because of their disobedience. All you have to do is read through scripture to verify that! But I also believe that God brings blessings upon those who are obedient. Does that mean that if a Christian experiences difficult times that God is punishing them for something they did wrong? No, but certainly there are times when God allows people to experience devastation as a result of their sin.
Ultimately, our hope is in God—not in political parties or government agencies or political activism. One of the things we must pick up from this passage is that God is in control—He’ll have the last word. And we do well to align ourselves with Him—humbly submit to Him, and thus turn from sin, and pray that our nation will do the same.
My little Grandma Pusey—who stood all of 4’ 8 or 9”—reminded us often of an insightful verse of scripture. It’s found in Galatians 6:7—
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7, KJV)
I remember a time when Grandma had gone into her room to rest after fixing a meal for the whole family—something she loved to do. We were all sitting around the big kitchen table talking, and evidently got to talking about something with moral ramifications. She was listening to every word from her bed. Quietly, we heard her door open, and she simply said,
“I still say, ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.’”
And then she just as quietly closed the door and went back to laying down, having made her point.
But it’s true—and we do well to remember that as individuals and as a nation—
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8, NIV)
And yet—when we do sin, if we turn back to the Lord, He promises forgiveness and healing. Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more! Where sin leads to suffering consequences, healing begins when the person or the nation turns to God for forgiveness and a fresh start.
So where does that leave us all today in regards to our nation? I believe it leads us to prayer. I’m praying this morning that our nation would repent of her sins and turn to God—in a way that would revolutionize life in America. I’m not praying that being a Christian would be legislated, but that more and more would see their need for God and turn their hearts to Him, and in so doing turn away from sins of self-centeredness and moral impurity and ungodly rationalizations that are wreaking havoc among the people of our nation today.
And as I pray that, I realize that it must begin with me, so I humble myself before the Lord today and acknowledge my great need for Him, committing myself to turn from any sin that would take the attention or the affection of my heart away from Him as Lord of my life.
I pray for our nation with the same broken heart with which I pray for some family members who do not appear to be walking in fellowship with the Lord right now. I pray that in all the turmoil and problems our nation is facing today that eyes would be opened to the Truth and people would genuinely turn to God.
I pray for our leaders—at the national level, but also statewide and locally—that they would turn their hearts to the Lord and allow Him to direct their ways. And I pray that the Lord would protect us from leaders at any level who would resist the ways of the Lord.
I pray for our nation today, mindful that our hope is not in ourselves or in our government or in our politics or in our power. Our hope is in God!—so it’s right and good that we call upon him in behalf of our nation! The challenges before us are so much bigger than any of us—but they’re not too big for God. I’m praying that God would truly bless America—knowing that His blessing comes when we humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways. May our hearts be turned to Him today.
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