Is 2 Chronicles 7:14 For Us Today?
by
Richard Haas
Richard Haas
2 Chronicles 7:14 is a very commonly used verse, especially here in the United States of America and during the political election season. Almost every Christian has heard this verse at one time or another; “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.” Several years back the Contemporary Christian music band Casting Crowns even made a song called “What if my People Prayed” using this verse as its theme. With the popularity of this verse today one would think that this verse must be meant for us today. Is that the case was 2 Chronicles 7:14 written for us today? Should we be using it as an example of God’s mercy towards a nation that has fallen away from God to be restored if they pray?
As always context must be our rule of thumb when dealing with any verse or group of verses in the Bible. So Let’s take a quick look at the context around this verse. Understand that the construction of the first temple in Jerusalem had just been completed. King Solomon led a massive week-long celebration to dedicate the temple. When the people returned to their homes following the celebration, we read the following:
Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night and said to him; “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence 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 I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now, I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.” (2 Chronicles 7:12–-16)
These words were spoken to Solomon, the king of Israel, and God made the promise to Solomon that when the land suffered from drought or pestilence, that if the people would humble themselves and pray, then God would hear those prayers and heal their land. The Lord specifically said that His eyes and ears would be attentive to the “prayer made in this place,” this is a reference to the temple in Jerusalem. If you continue reading the remaining verses in 2 Chronicles 7, it becomes abundantly clear that this was a particular promise made by God to the Jewish people during the time of the first temple.
As it can, we see the use of this verse is quite a bit different than Christians using this verse as a promise from God to fix the problems in the United States of America. We also see that proper context deflates the use of this verse for the theme of that Casting Crowns song as well. Before getting too upset with me, let me point out that the following; I think there are certain principles we can use from 2 Chronicles 7:14. Such as, it is always a good thing for God’s people to humble themselves and pray for their nation. As Christians, we absolutely should and need to pray for our nation; this is biblical. We also can learn from this text that as Christians we should pray for our neighbors, friends, loved ones, and even our politicians–even the ones we don’t agree with (1 Timothy 2:1–4). It would be wonderful if every Christian would humble himself or herself and pray for our nation.
However, we must understand that 2 Chronicles 7:14 is not a divine promise to Christians in the United States today that God will fix our nation. We don’t have such a guarantee in Scripture. We must always be careful to make sure we use verses in the proper context. Remember the three rules of proper biblical hermeneutics; Context, Context, and Context.
As always context must be our rule of thumb when dealing with any verse or group of verses in the Bible. So Let’s take a quick look at the context around this verse. Understand that the construction of the first temple in Jerusalem had just been completed. King Solomon led a massive week-long celebration to dedicate the temple. When the people returned to their homes following the celebration, we read the following:
Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night and said to him; “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence 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 I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now, I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.” (2 Chronicles 7:12–-16)
These words were spoken to Solomon, the king of Israel, and God made the promise to Solomon that when the land suffered from drought or pestilence, that if the people would humble themselves and pray, then God would hear those prayers and heal their land. The Lord specifically said that His eyes and ears would be attentive to the “prayer made in this place,” this is a reference to the temple in Jerusalem. If you continue reading the remaining verses in 2 Chronicles 7, it becomes abundantly clear that this was a particular promise made by God to the Jewish people during the time of the first temple.
As it can, we see the use of this verse is quite a bit different than Christians using this verse as a promise from God to fix the problems in the United States of America. We also see that proper context deflates the use of this verse for the theme of that Casting Crowns song as well. Before getting too upset with me, let me point out that the following; I think there are certain principles we can use from 2 Chronicles 7:14. Such as, it is always a good thing for God’s people to humble themselves and pray for their nation. As Christians, we absolutely should and need to pray for our nation; this is biblical. We also can learn from this text that as Christians we should pray for our neighbors, friends, loved ones, and even our politicians–even the ones we don’t agree with (1 Timothy 2:1–4). It would be wonderful if every Christian would humble himself or herself and pray for our nation.
However, we must understand that 2 Chronicles 7:14 is not a divine promise to Christians in the United States today that God will fix our nation. We don’t have such a guarantee in Scripture. We must always be careful to make sure we use verses in the proper context. Remember the three rules of proper biblical hermeneutics; Context, Context, and Context.
