"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 will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

This verse is part of a longer passage spoken directly to Solomon by the Lord in response to prayer. (2 Chr. 7:12)

One can not adequately understand this passage without first understanding the prayer it is in response to.  The prayer was given by Solomon at the dedication of the temple built for the Lord God. (see 2 Chr. 5, 6, &7)

The prayer was offered before the alter of the Lord and in the presence of all the assembly of Israel.  Throughout these chapters there is an ongoing atmosphere of supplication and reverence to God, unity, confession, praise & thankfulness.

God accepted the prayer and sacrifice offered to Him at the time of dedication of the temple and filled it with His glory.

When Jesus gave Himself as sacrifice for our sins, we were joined with Him as one body. The temple of God is now within our hearts. We, ourselves, have become individual temples and each of us are filled with His glory. (1 Cor. 6:19&20)

When God gave me this passage, He impressed the importance of all words, but that they all depended on one word:

“IF" - THERE IS A LOT RIDING

              ON THIS SINGLE WORD...

As with so many things in the Bible, we have been given so very much, but so often it requires something from us.

I don’t know if any of you studied the Basic computer programming language. There is a command called IF I THEN. It’s effect is very simple. - IF something is done THEN something else will happen. The Bible has several places where the word IF is used. Quite often we tend to look to the THEN parts without thinking about the IF parts.

IF:  We HUMBLE ourselves...

We PRAY...

We SEEK God’s face...

We TURN from our wicked ways...

THEN: He will HEAR...

He will FORGIVE our sin...

He will HEAL our land...

When we look at this passage in this way we will see that there is great emphasis placed on us first being humble, praying, seeking God and repenting. IF you read the remainder of 2 Chronicles 7, you will find a different IF/THEN illustration of what would happen IF the people were to stop doing the things God had blessed at the dedication of the temple.

Solomon knew men’s hearts (2 Chron. 6:2242) and anticipated that we would ultimately sin and thus cause separation from God. He prayed in 2 Chron. 36-42 that no matter where we found ourselves, if we repented, humbled ourselves by seeking God in prayer and confessed our sins, if done with a true heart, that God would hear us. God honored this prayer and still honors it today.

It doesn’t matter where you are in your relationship with God today, He really does hear your prayer. If you turn to God with all your heart and soul He will turn to you. It is God’s heart to dwell with man - He waits within the temple of your heart - Cry out to Him today!