DAVID'S EMAIL BIBLE STUDY:
God's Rx
A. BACKGROUND
...
For two months we’ve been pushing my newest writing, “My America”. It is an essay in two parts. Part 1 is a memoir, taking my life from the optimism of post-World War II Queens through the changes of the late 20
th
century to the challenges of today. Part 2 is God’s prescription (God’s RX) for a nation to be healed, based on 2 Chronicles 7:14. Over 500 have read the essay. I’ve conducted a dozen group discussions and have received hundreds of responses. The goal is to get people talking constructively and helpfully. That’s happening. FOR TODAY, the background to the verse is God’s displeasure with Israel. God began Israel like a science experiment: what would happen if we mix this with that? The mixture God planned was what would happen if God started an entirely new people – and God stayed close to them, and the people stayed close to God? The answer is that people are pretty much the same the world over. Despite the best of intentions and advantage, humanity always wants to do its own thing, and leave God out of it.
B. TODAY
... 2 Chronicles 7:14..."
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
C. SUMMARY.
God starts his Rx with a startling admission, (vs. 13), that many of Israel’s problems (drought, plagues) are God’s doing to punish and/or get Israel’s attention. Verse 14 is God’s Rx for changing the downward trajectory of Israel. 1) Humble themselves. 2) Pray. 3) Seek God’s face. 4) Turn from their wickedness. It is a 4-step process and requires all four. Then, God says (vs 15), “I will hear you, forgive you, and heal your land.”
D. KEY POINTS
1.
HUMBLE yourself. It’s the opposite of “being full of yourself”; or as the Bible says, being “puffed up”. In my life in mission work we’ve always come up against “instant experts”: people who know everything and therefore don’t hear, can’t learn, won’t grow. It’s not surprising that God’s first Rx for a nation is to “humble themselves”. Humility opens us up to helpful change.
2.
PRAYER is simple conversation with God, modeled after any conversation with a best friend. Your best friend conversations are usually straightforward, two way (speaking and listening), honest, regular, sincere, trusting. Now, apply that to God, AND, within the context of “My America”, apply it to your prayers about America. If you believe there is a God, and you believe God is on the other end of your prayer line, and you believe God is interested in your concerns, what should you bring to God about America? Would you go to a doctor and not tell what ails you? Or to your car mechanic and not mention what’s troubling you?
3.
To “seek God’s face” is to go deeper, more intimate, get real in your time with God. Too often our prayers can be rote, cursory, pious platitudes, and mindless generalities. You and God both deserve better than that.
4.
“Turn from your wicked ways” is not a comfortable and easy thought. It takes up a lot of space in “My America” (pages 37-45) precisely because it is not comfortable or easy. First of all, we have to identify, name, and acknowledge our “wicked ways”. No one likes to do that about themselves. Nor about our country. But it is the only way to “heal the land”, according to God. Having admitted our “wicked ways”, then we have to turn from, to change, to stop, what was wicked and move in another direction.
5.
Conclusion. Everything we care about deserves improvement: us, our kids, our favorite team, our job, our schools, America. Improvement has always been what made America great.
