If My People . . .

If, as I stated in my previous post, humble prayer and fasting for the spiritual condition of our world is the answer to the current social, political, and economic difficulties, for what should we pray? Notice that in Daniel 9, Daniel’s prayer was primarily focused on the confession of sin and repentance of God’s people. This brings to mind that well known verse from 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (ESV) We often think about this verse alone, out of its context. It certainly has a great message for us in and of itself, but the message of the larger context is powerful and important.

2 Chronicles 5 through 7 is the story of the dedication of the temple Solomon built upon instructions from the Lord. The recurring theme in chapter six is that the temple would be a place of prayer, and that if God’s people will pray God will hear their prayers and heal their land. The chapter contains six if-then pairs concerning the prayers of God’s people and his promise to hear those prayers. Three of those pairs (vs. 24-25, 26-27, and 36-39) clearly state that the afflictions God’s people are the result of their own unfaithfulness to him. The pair in verses 28-31 does not say that the afflictions of God’s people result from their unfaithfulness, but simply acknowledges that those afflictions do happen. The pair in verses 34-35 states that at times the affliction of God’s people is the consequence of God sending his people to war against their enemies. In this instance, the sufferings of God’s people are because of their faithful obedience rather than their unfaithfulness. Finally, the pair in verses 32-33 states that if the foreigner who has come from a far land for the sake of God’s name prays, God responds.

This chapter says much about God and about his people. This passage is above all a great assurance that God will hear the prayers of his people and respond positively to them. It is also, however, a bit of a warning. Half of the six if-then pairs clearly state that the reason for the afflictions of God’s people was their own unfaithfulness. I need to be careful here; it is not my purpose to accuse anyone of anything. We are not to judge another’s circumstances and we cannot know that any situation is because of God’s chastising those whom he loves. This is certainly true on an individual basis. (See John 9:1-3.) But it is clear that of when the afflictions come, God’s people should take a hard look at themselves. God’s purpose for us is holiness, and "the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." (Hebrews 12:6) There are many examples in the Scripture, but the book of Judges should suffice. In Judges, the people of God did what was evil in God’s sight and God permitted the oppression of his people seven times over a period of about 350 years. (Judges 2:11-14, 3:7-8, 3:12-13, 4:1-2, 6:1, 10:6-8, 13:1) Also notice that those who did evil in God’s sight were his people, the Israelites. God had high expectations for them, expectations of holiness, and when they did not live up to those expectations God allowed them to suffer so that they would remember him, repent of their unfaithfulness, and once again glorify him

The lesson for the church today is that we must look at ourselves very carefully. Do we live for the glory of God or do we live by and for our passions? Granted, sometimes we suffer afflictions because we are engaged in God’s work, and sometimes we suffer afflictions because we live in a fallen, imperfect world that includes life and death, success and failure, affliction and prosperity simply because that is the order God set up after the fall. But, as often as not, we suffer difficulties and afflictions because we have forgotten God’s sovereign purpose of holiness. The great promise of 2 Chronicles 6-7 is that when his people, those called by his name, humble themselves, repent, and pray God will hear and heal their land. There is hope. God is still God, and he has not changed a bit in all of eternity. So, what we should pray for? A good place to start is to pray that God will quicken our hearts to our own sin and that we might repent, glorify him, and enjoy him forever

Bad Times

Daniel lived in very bad times. I will not go into a lot of details; you know the story from your Sunday School days and can read the background in 2 Kings 24-25, 2 Chronicles 36, and of course, the Book of Daniel. Daniel was one of the first Israelites Nebeuchadnezzar took captive when the Babylonians captured Jerusalem. It was a very bad time. The Israelites suffered greatly because of the war and the exile. The Scripture is plain that God allowed the Babylonians to defeat the Israelites because of the unfaithfulness of his people. They had ceased to glorify him and lived for themselves; which I contend is the root of the difficulties we see today.

Daniel was different. He was a young man of great integrity and faithfulness to the Lord. You can read in Daniel 1 about his integrity even in his diet, about the faith and courage of Daniel and his friends in chapter 3, and about his faithfulness that eventually lead to his ordeal in the lion’s den in chapter 6. Because of his faithfulness, he was greatly blessed by God and God used him to influence and direct the actions of the Babylonian, Meade, and Persian governments. His faithfulness was primarily in the little things. Most of all, his life was not controlled by his passions, but by a great desire to glorify God. The first question of the Westminster Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” The answer, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” Daniel understood and lived by this simple concept. He lived solely to glorify God, and by do so enjoyed God to the fullest extent.

Daniel’s response to the difficult times was a model for all believers. Of course he responded with faithfulness and integrity in spite of his situation. The details of his response are most clearly seen in Daniel 9.

• He sought God in the Scriptures (Daniel 9:2). Unless God’s people know him well, they cannot glorify him. God’s people must know God’s word deeply; knowing it in snippets, chunks, sound bites, and slogans is not sufficient.
• Daniel prayed and fasted in sackcloth and ashes (Daniel 9:3). Most understand the need to pray, but most do not understand the need to pray while fasting “in sackcloth and ashes.” Sackcloth and ashes was a sign of mourning. Daniel mourned for the spiritual condition of his people. Do we?
• He recognized both God’s faithfulness and the unfaithfulness of God’s people on all levels, spiritual leaders, political leaders, and the people in general. Their situation was a consequence of their own unfaithfulness. He did not blame their trouble on the outsiders, the Babylonians, Meads, or Persians, but understood that God’s people had no one to blame but themselves. It is important to note that even after the judgment came upon the people, they did not repent. (Daniel 9:7-13)
• He asked for forgiveness and restoration for the glory of God alone, not because the Israelites deserved anything better.(Daniel 9:15-19)

So, how should the church respond to our current afflictions? Much the same way Daniel did. I have a few  suggestions and want to be careful not to accuse, but to encourage believers to a biblical, godly response.

• We need to know the Scripture and take it seriously. Our culture is such that it is easy to know parts of the Scripture but to not know it deeply and thoroughly. One of the primary means of developing a theistic world view is to know through the Scriptures how God deals with his people. True believers have a hunger and thirst for God’s word, and that is what develops a godly mind. May these difficult times move us to seek God in his word beyond the “Sunday School” level. See Psalm 119 and Romans 12:1-2. It is also important that we know how to properly interpret the Scripture using the minds and hearts God gave us and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
• We need to care more deeply about the spiritual condition of God’s people in particular and the world in general. The spiritual condition of is people is important to God, and as a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9) it is our responsibility to care as well. True mourning among God’s people for the spiritual condition of the church is rare. There seems instead to be a Laodicean indifference.
• We need to seriously look at ourselves for the source of the problem and look to God for the solution. It is easy to blame “the world” and its sinfulness for the problem, but God is much more concerned with the sinfulness of his people. Our first step is to repent of our faithlessness and turn back to God with all our hearts. Truly, to God belongs honor and glory and to us belongs “confusion of face.”
• We need to humbly call to God in prayer and fasting for his mercy and that he might be glorified in us for his own sake. Ultimately, God will act in a way that will clearly glorify him. His people must understand this and call to him without ceasing so that he might be glorified. His glory is all that matters.

My prayer is that in all things, his people glorify him.

Confusion of Face

In anyone’s point-of-view the world we live in is in a mess, and most will agree that things will get worse before they get better. The evidence of that mess is evident in current social, political, and economic conditions. The social ills of racism, crime, domestic violence and child neglect, drug and alcohol abuse, poverty, and a myriad of others are rampant. You probably don’t need confirmation of this, but if you do spend some time in the emergency room waiting area of a public hospital in almost any sizable city. The recent presidential campaign brought out the worst in both conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans. The national and global economic woes perhaps affect us more directly than the others. The current situation with the financial institutions, the auto industry, the real estate market, and the related construction industry has touched us all. The unemployment figures published by the government this week verify that times are hard and will get harder before this is over. Why has all of this happened?

All of these issues have spiritual roots. My purpose is not to point fingers or proclaim God’s judgment on anyone, but at least some of the problems are a consequence of the failure of God’s people. I will leave the details of that to another post, but the consequences are clear. We seem to have lost our collective vision of what it means to be God’s people and have, subsequently, lost our way. I am very concerned about the church’s response to the current social, political, economic, and spiritual conditions and to the events, attitudes, and world view from which they come. Generally, that response has been arrogant, judgmental, and secular, based on our passions rather than on a passion for God.

Over the next few weeks I want to do two things with this blog. First, I want to examine the current situation and show the proper response of a biblical theist world view. Second, I want to challenge God’s people to actually respond properly, with repentance, faith, obedience, prayer, and fasting.

The name of this post expresses my idea about how God’s people should respond to the current situation. It comes from Daniel 9:7. “To thee, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us confusion of face.” The phrase ‘confusion of face’ is an idiom that can properly be translated ‘shame.’ One could paraphrase this verse, “To thee, O, Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us shame.” In this chapter Daniel was confessing the sin of his people and interceding for their spiritual condition. The Bible clearly states that the Israelites were in exile because of their unfaithfulness to God. Daniel’s response to their situation was to intercede for them because he knew that this was a problem that only God could solve. Such is our situation now. Only God can change the situation and our response is to intercede more than anything else.

So, over the next few weeks I will be writing about all these things and a few more. Don’t expect a post every day or even every week. I will be posting as I have time and something to say. I hope that is about once a week, but it may not be. In all this, my goal is to glorify God. He and he alone is worthy of all honor and praise for to him truly belongs righteousness.