09.05.07
“WHAT?!”
II Chronicles 7:13-14
“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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
“A concerned husband went to a doctor to talk about his wife. ‘Doctor, I think my wife is deaf because she never hears me the first time and always asks me to repeat things.’
“‘Well,’ the doctor replied, ‘go home and tonight stand about 15 feet from her and say something to her. If she doesn’t reply move about 5 feet closer and say it again. Keep doing this so that we’ll get an idea about the severity of her deafness.’
“Sure enough, the husband goes home and does exactly as instructed. He starts off about 15 feet from his wife in the kitchen as she is chopping some vegetables and says, ‘Honey, what’s for dinner?’ He hears no response. He moves about 5 feet closer and asks again. No reply. He moves 5 feet closer. Still no reply. He gets fed up and moves right behind her, about an inch away, and asks again, ‘Honey, what’s for dinner?’
“She replies, ‘For the fourth time, vegetable stew!’ ”
Why is it that we see things in others that we fail to see in ourselves? It always seems to be the others who have the problem. Like the husband in this humorous story, we think the problem is with someone else. When that happens, we fail to deal with the problem in our own life.
I am struck by the Scripture for today. It becomes apparent from this passage that God does indeed bring calamity upon the people as a consequence of their sin. It is not to make them suffer, it is to bring them to the place where they will confess their sin and return to Him.
There is no way that I can know what is happening in your life, but God knows. I can not give you spiritual counsel on how to resolve the conflicts you are encountering at this moment, but God knows.
A man honestly shared in one of our Men’s Bible Study groups. He commented about his frustration and the pent up anger that had been seething inside of him over the past week. He was driving along and switched from one radio station to another, just in time to hear this comment from Pastor Chuck Swindoll, “Instead of allowing a situation to produce anger, let it produce character.”
My friend commented that only God could have known that he needed that word at that precise moment. Chuck may have recorded that message weeks, months or years earlier, but as it was aired at that particular moment, the time was right for this message to be delivered to a struggling heart.
There are always situations in our life that challenge us to do something. The right thing to do in any and every situation is always place our trust in God, to confess any sin or fault and turn away from that which is not pleasing to God.
It is interesting that in James 5, he gives instructions about our prayer when we pray for healing. The instruction is given that the sick are to call for the elders to anoint them with oil and pray for their healing. But there is one other element found in James 5:15; “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”
When you or I approach the Lord about our need, we need to honestly confess our sins before Him and the conflicts with others as well. We need to have our spiritual hearing aids turned up on high so we can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit revealing those things that need confessing and cleansing.
I pray that God will be near to you this day as you develop in you that character which will be a radiant testimony of the power of God to do what we ourselves are not able to do.
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing.
- - - Pastor Cecil