Turn - Max Lucado [11]
THOSE WHO ARE HONEST WITH GOD. HOWEVER DRAW NEAR TO GOD.
Will America ever do this? Repent like Peter? Pray like Nehemiah and the Jews? Will this nation come clean with God? She may, if the church leads the way.
Take note of the first and final phrase of God’s land-healing promise: “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, italics mine)
“My people” and “heal their land.” The healing of the land begins with the people of God. The nation changes when God’s people change. The culture changes when the church changes. And that change begins when we repent. Genuine national repentance says: America needs to change and the change begins with me.
We don’t have any problem with the first part of the sentence, “America needs to change.” Our list of complaints grows like the deficit. Hollywood needs to change. Taxes need to change. The White House, the liberals, the conservatives, the lobbyists…we know what needs to change.
We begin feeling like the man at the prayer session. During the time of private prayer, he stood alone and prayed, “God, I thank You that America has people like me. The man on the corner needs welfare—I don’t. The prostitute on the street has AIDS—I don’t. The bum at the bar needs alcohol—I don’t. The gay caucus needs morality. I don’t. I thank You that America has people like me.”
In the same meeting, a man of humble heart, too contrite to even look to the skies, prayed, “God, have mercy on me—a sinner. Like my brother on welfare—I’m dependent on Your grace. Like my sister with AIDS—I’m infected with mistakes. Like my friend who drinks—I need something to ease my pain. And like those You love who are gay—I need direction, too. Have mercy on me, a sinner.”
After telling a story like that, Jesus said, “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).
HUMILITY POINTS A FINGER AT SELF AND ADMITS TO BEING A PART OF THE PROBLEM.
God’s promise is clear: “If my people…will turn from their wicked ways—if they will quit pointing at others and begin with themselves—I will come and heal the land.”
Charles Robertson didn’t humble himself and confess until it was too late. He ran and ran until there was nowhere left to run. And justice had him cornered. Not so with Peter. Shocking and reprehensible as his failure and betrayal may have been, the big fisherman stopped running, turned around, and ran back toward Jesus Christ. In the presence of his Savior, Peter found the grace and mercy his heart craved, instead of the justice he deserved.
MAY IT BE SO FOR YOU AND ME.
MAY IT BE SO FOR AMERICA.
“Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered” (Psalm 32:1). Imagine two roads. One is clean and well traveled; the other is wretched, with deep ruts that veer off into a ditch. When a heavy snowfall blankets the two roads, both are equally covered. Just so, our sins, big and small, are equally covered by God: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Isaiah 18:8).
—Erwin Lutzer, After You’ve Blown It, pp. 46–47
“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)
CONCLUSION
When our daughters were younger, we went desk hunting. I needed a new one for the office, and we’d promised Andrea and Sara desks for their rooms. Seven-year-old Sara was especially enthused. When she would come home from school, guess what she would do? Play school! I never did that as a kid. I tried to forget the classroom activities, not rehearse them. Denalyn assured me not to worry, that this is one of those attention-span