Emails to God

¹⁴ [Solomon] prayed,

“O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven and earth. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion. ¹⁵ You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father. You made that promise with your own mouth, and with your own hands you have fulfilled it today.

¹⁶ “And now, O Lord, God of Israel, carry out the additional promise you made to your servant David, my father. For you said to him, ‘If your descendants guard their behavior and faithfully follow my Law as you have done, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’ ¹⁷ Now, O Lord, God of Israel, fulfill this promise to your servant David.

¹⁸ “But will God really live on earth among people? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built! ¹⁹ Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you. ²⁰ May you watch over this Temple day and night, this place where you have said you would put your name. May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place. ²¹ May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.

²² “If someone wrongs another person and is required to take an oath of innocence in front of your altar at this Temple, ²³ then hear from heaven and judge between your servants—the accuser and the accused. Pay back the guilty as they deserve. Acquit the innocent because of their innocence.

²⁴ “If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn back and acknowledge your name and pray to you here in this Temple, ²⁵ then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and return them to this land you gave to them and to their ancestors.

²⁶ “If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and if they pray toward this Temple and acknowledge your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them, ²⁷ then hear from heaven and forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them to follow the right path, and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as their special possession.

²⁸ “If there is a famine in the land or a plague or crop disease or attacks of locusts or caterpillars, or if your people’s enemies are in the land besieging their towns—whatever disaster or disease there is— ²⁹ and if your people Israel pray about their troubles or sorrow, raising their hands toward this Temple, ³⁰ then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive. Give your people what their actions deserve, for you alone know each human heart. ³¹ Then they will fear you and walk in your ways as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.

³² “In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands when they hear of your great name and your strong hand and your powerful arm. And when they pray toward this Temple, ³³ then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built honors your name.

³⁴ “If your people go out where you send them to fight their enemies, and if they pray to you by turning toward this city you have chosen and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name, ³⁵ then hear their prayers from heaven and uphold their cause.

³⁶ “If they sin against you—and who has never sinned?—you might become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and take them captive to a foreign land far away or near. ³⁷ But in that land of exile, they might turn to you in repentance and pray, ‘We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.’ ³⁸ If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their captivity and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors—toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name— ³⁹ then hear their prayers and their petitions from heaven where you live, and uphold their cause. Forgive your people who have sinned against you.

⁴⁰ “O my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to all the prayers made to you in this place.

⁴¹ “And now arise, O Lord God, and enter your resting place,
    along with the Ark, the symbol of your power.
May your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation;
    may your loyal servants rejoice in your goodness.
⁴² O Lord God, do not reject the king you have anointed.
    Remember your unfailing love for your servant David.”

2 Chronicles 6:14-42

Dear God, the verse of the day from Bible Gateway was 1 Chronicles 7:14.

Then 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.

It seems like I’ve heard this verse used out of context a lot, so I wanted to go back and read everything you said around it. Then I wanted to go back and see what you were responding to so I looked at chapter 6 and Solomon’s prayer to you that prompted your response. It always brings me back to the question: “What went wrong?” Solomon departed from your ways, and the kingdom was split after he died. Israel eventually fell to the Assyrians, and the a few generations later, Judah/Benjamin fell to the Babylonians.

I actually think it’s pretty simple. I think of the parable of the Sower. On the day Solomon prayed this prayer, the soil of his heart and the soil of all the Israelites’ hearts was deep, rich, and free from rocks, weeds, and thorns. It was ready to grow fruit. And then…

The soil of their hearts began to grow weeds. As Jesus put it in Matthew 13:22, “²² The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.” The worries of life and the the lure of wealth took them away from you.

This is where things apply to me personally. My temptation is to look at our nation to see how these things have taken your church away from you (the lure of power, influence, and money and the fear that we have to grasp at power so that we will not be irrelevant), but it starts with me. We are having a fundraising dinner tomorrow night, and I can take one of a few attitudes into this dinner. My tendency is to want this to be an amazing financial success that will bring in great amounts of money that will provide for our ministry’s financial needs and, yes, make me look good to the board of directors and everyone else involved. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that my ego is part of this. A big part of this. Now, my paycheck is the same regardless of how much comes in so I’m not worrying about my personal wealth, but I certainly want to be admired. I want people to think very positively of me. But wouldn’t it be a huge waste of time to put 300 people in a room just for my ego?!?

As I prayed with my wife this morning, and she asked me how she could pray for me, I told her that I needed to get my head right, and I need to care more about the people in the room than I care for myself or our organization. I need to make the evening about the people who chose to attend our dinner and help them to feel a touch of you. I heard someone say one time that Halloween is the one day of the year when the “lost” go door to door. Well, the people coming to our dinner tomorrow night aren’t “lost,” but they will all need a touch of you and your Holy Spirit in some way.

Father, help that to be my focus. Help me weed my soil today. I’ve let things grow up in it that have no business being there. I have cares that you want me to turn loose of. I have sin that needs to be repented of. And I’m speaking to a Rotary club today. Be in that message too. Love them through me. Help me to help the people in the room to start the process of weeding their own soil. I love you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen