If My People - The Result

‘When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 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. 2 Chronicles 7:13‭-‬14 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/2ch.7.13-14.NIVUK Three results are outlined here. Firstly, God will hear. I never cease to be amazed by these verses in Revelation: When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Revelation 8:1‭-‬5 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/rev.8.1-5.NIVUK Why? Because in the middle of all the worship and the noise of battle and the cries from judgement, it all falls silent so God can hear our prayers. And things happen when we pray. Big things. Things change. Countries change. People change. We change. Which is why God places such a high emphasis on praying and seeking His face. Secondly, He will forgive our sin (1 John 1:8‭-‬10; Psalms 130:1‭-‬8; Micah 7:18‭-‬19). Forgiveness is not cheap and our forgiveness is not easy. There is a high price attached to it that we were unable to pay. But Jesus Christ paid for it on the cross (Acts 5:30‭-‬31). However, there is also a price that we have to pay: we must forgive others (Matthew 18:23‭-‬35). Jesus placed a condition on truly experiencing forgiveness. To really feel forgiven, we must forgive. As Luke recorded Jesus saying: ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Luke 6:37 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/luk.6.37.NIVUK Even in the Lord's Prayer we read these words: And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6:12 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/mat.6.12.NIVUK The Bible is really stark: to be forgiven we must forgive. So if we harbour bitterness or anger or unforgiveness in our hearts then we will not feel forgiven. Our verse goes on to explain that God will heal. He will bind up the wounds caused by the suffering we have endured. He will fix the problems our sins have causes. When God sent a locust swarm to punish the Israelites for their sins, He promised them this through the prophet Joel: ‘I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten – the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm – my great army that I sent among you. Joel 2:25 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/jol.2.25.NIVUK He promised Solomon that he would heal his land. This land for Israel represented their means of surviving and making a living, as they were an agricultural nation. God would strike their means of living, but He would restore it. His restoration would come because He had a covenant relationship with the whole land.