Lord, Please Heal Our Land
For this week’s Pastor’s Ponderings, please click on the Pastor's Ponderings link to our blog and remember that God wants His children to turn from sin and towards Him so that He can heal our land.
Lord, Please Heal Our Land
According to the Associated Press, August 23, 2020, the Gulf Coast is awaiting two hurricanes, Marco and another potential hurricane, Tropical Storm Laura. Jessica Schulberg and Chris D’Angelo in Huffington Post, August 22, 2020, wrote, “More than 500 wildfireshave been ignited across California this week, the result of a record-shattering heat wave and about 12,000 lightning strikes.” Over 800,000 people have died from COVID-19 worldwide with the distinct possibility that the true coronavirus death toll in the United States is much higher than the official count of about 175,000 and that the virus may have had an outsized effect on communities of color.
It is clear to any honest observer that the world is in trouble. Our land desperately needs healing. But knowing that there would be disasters and terrible things would come upon the earth, God has always proposed a solution. Just like God destroyed the army which was attacking King Jehoshaphat when everyone fasted and prayed (2 Chronicles 20:1, 3, 4, 15, 23) and just like Nineveh was saved from destruction when everyone fasted and prayed (Jonah 3:4, 5, 7-10), God is calling His people into action.
God declared that if His people who were called by His Name would humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways, He would hear from heaven and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14). He did not ask this from those who did not love God, denied His existence or who were in open rebellion against Him. He was speaking to His children who had not humbled themselves, were not praying, were not seeking His face but were doing wicked things. He promised in this scripture that He would hear us, forgive our sins and heal our land.
When confronted with imminent destruction, the king of Nineveh poignantly asked, “God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish. He knew they were in danger but understood the necessity of fasting and prayer. Perhaps it is time for the sophisticated and learned leaders of the twenty first century to heed a heathen king’s query. Perhaps God’s children can come together in spite of our doctrinal differences, races, creeds, and colors and obey His commands, and pray so that He can divinely intervene. Let us not argue, fight, or fuss. Let us humble ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from our wickedness. He said He would hear us, forgive our sin, and heal our land. Let us take Him at His word.
2 Chronicles 20:1, 3, 4, 15, 23
New International Version
1 After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat.
3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.
4 The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.
15 He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.
23 The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
Jonah 3:4, 5, 7-10
New International Version
4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.
8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.
9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
2 Chronicles 7:14
New International Version
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 I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
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