Tide Versus Wind
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which
are called by my name, shall 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.
For
some time now, this verse has been coming up
again and again in my
Bible reading and
studies.
We recently attended Revival Meetings
in a neighbouring community
and
were blessed with many coming and
hearing the Word of God boldly preached.
The
Webster Dictionary defines Revival as:
the act or instance of
reviving: the state of being revived:
a renewed attention to
or interest in something.
Revival
is something that has to start in each individual
heart
and life. In the life of the Christian, that means,
becoming
revived. Remembering our 'first love'.
In the
book of Revelation, we see that the church
of
Ephesus was rebuked for leaving their first love.
Revelation 2:4
Nevertheless I have
somewhat against thee,
because thou hast left
thy first love.
We all
know that at times, our Christian walk
goes
through periods of growth and we experience
peace
and joy abundantly, and at other times, we seem
to
stagnate and become sluggish. But our growth
is
dependent on us and our willingness to grow.
If
revival is a 'renewed attention or interest in something',
then
turning our backs on the things that distract us,
renewing
our interest in the things of God
and
getting serious in our service and our walk with
the
Lord will help bring the spiritual renewal that we all need.
As we
look at the verse in 2 Chronicles, and we put it into context,
Solomon
had just finished building the 'house of the Lord' and the Lord came
to him
by night and told him that He had heard his prayer and had chosen
'this
place …....for an house of sacrifice'. He then gave Solomon
conditions
to
follow in order for the blessing to come.
What I
find interesting, is that it's so simple to understand
the
steps to follow in this verse.
Firstly
is our part:
Humble
ourselves
Pray
Seek
God's face
Turn
(repent) from sin
Then
God will:
Hear
Forgive
Heal
We
have the human side, our part to be done,
then we have the divine
aspect, God's part.
We do
our part, He does His. And the same is true of prayer. The divine
side is the promise to answer and the human side is to ask and
believe.
Here
in this verse, God lays out our part clearly
then He tells us what He
will do for us.
He
tells us to PRAY. But notice that humility comes first.
“Humble themselves
and pray.....”
It's
hard to pray in the right spirit if there is pride in your heart.
We
pray, we seek God's face, we ask for answers,
we ask
Him to search our hearts and cleanse us
from
any sin lurking there, we turn from our sin and God hears.
He
hears, He forgives and He heals.
I read
an interesting story in my daily studies recently
written
by J. Sidlow Baxter.
“Some years ago I
spent a holiday near the fringe of a lonely bay on the rugged coast
of north east England. Toward sunset one day I went out along by the
shore to watch the incoming tide, and became much impressed by the
power of the wind as it smote the water with its mighty breath.
The weather that day
had been fitful, with quickly alternating rainy gusts down from the
Cheviot Hills, which sloped away inland,
and become a determined
gale,
sweeping down full in
the face of the incoming tide.
As I walked along the
inmost reach of the beach, partly sheltered from the wind, I could
see, just a little way out, where the
wind struck the water; and it
seemed as
though the waves were
forced back by the mighty impact. I learned from a coastman
afterwards, that the wind had
actually retarded the tide to
some degree that night.
As I looked out across
that wind-smitten tide, I found myself comparing it with the present
moral and spiritual situation. On the one hand, wherever we go, we
seem to see indications that a spiritual revival might break forth at
any time, and people seem to be vaguely longing for it; but on the
other hand the forces of godlessness seem more rampant and aggressive
than ever.
The tides of God are
flowing in- tides of blessing and glorious revival. The tides of God
are breaking on the shores of our national life, and there could be a
flood-tide of cleansing and salvation.
But there are strong winds of
evil beating back the tide!
O that the cleansing
tide might flood in ! What can we do? We must PRAY!”
How
amazing that the tide could be influenced so greatly
by the
wind. The winds of evil are strong.
But oh
what God could do with a nation
that
would come to Him in humility and pray
and
seek his face and repent.
If we
as Christians
could
really get serious about seeing the lost saved
and
having a good Godly witness and testimony
in our
own communities, then the tides of God
could
flow in and break on our shores.
God is
waiting for us as Christians,
to
wake up, stand up, throw off our mediocre,
half-hearted,
lukewarm Christianity
and
start radiating some heat to a Godless world.
Show
them that we have something worth having.
Oh
that we wouldn't become content
going
about our lives, no different to anyone else,
with
our lights under a bushel.
I pray
that we would be ready to give an answer.
I pray
that people would see our light shine
and
want a reason for the hope we have.
1 Peter 3:15
But sanctify the Lord
God in your hearts:
and be ready always
to give an answer to every man that asketh
you a reason of the
hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
Pray
for God to light a fire under you
so hot
that you can't help but shout about it!
We
have the good news!
We
have the Saviour.
We
have the Redeemer.
We
have the Creator.
We've
been washed in His blood.
We are
His children.
What
is there NOT to shout about?
