THURSDAY, March 27th 2008

II Chronicles 6:22-31

22 If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house;
23 Then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness.
24 And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; and shall return and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house;
25 Then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers.
26 When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them;
27 Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou hast taught them the good way, wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given unto thy people for an inheritance.
28 If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be:
29 Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:
30 Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:)
31 That they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

This passage is a continuing of the Prayer of Solomon to dedicate the temple. In this prayer, Solomon has come to the point where he is now asking God to hear the prayers of His people in the future. Now you may ask what is the purpose of this... Of course God will hear the peoples prayers. Solomon is simply showing the sovereignity of God, He is worhsiping God through prayer by basically saying, God if we get into any of these situations, then we know that there is no hope without your involvement. We too should pray in the same way, God, you are such a great God, If I ever come to a point in my life, that I do not believe that the way I should, then hear my prayer now, and work in my life.
It is praying for what we want God to do in the future in the midst of any problems we may face. And I think the most exciting verse in this passage is 31. God desires that we Fear Him and that we Follow Him as long as we are alive.