Bring the Rain
Daily Old Testament Reading: Psalm 134, 136; 2 Chronicles 6-7
Daily Focus Passage: 2 Chronicles 7
2 Chronicles 7:14 exists as the most well-known passage within 2 Chronicles. People have used this verse to encourage a nation to turn to God. The church has allowed this passage to become a formula for revival. Yet, this passage sits in a greater context of Solomon dedicating the Temple. This passage extends to God's chosen people and speaks to the sovereignty and mercy of God as he calls people to himself and responds to seekers. Solomon says the presence of drought that the Lord directed to bring his people back to himself. Thus, 2 Chronicles 7:14 says to the seeker seeking the Lord genuinely and the Lord responding by bringing rain and healing the land.
THE USE OF DROUGHT
Solomon knew the people would experience moments of unfaithfulness before the Lord. At the same time, he understood that the Lord desired his chosen people to remain faithful and would use moments of drought and pestilence to call the people to repent. As the people experienced these moments of trial, the Temple would serve as a reminder of God’s mercy and grace. As the people gazed upon the Temple, they would be charged to cry out to the Lord for mercy. God used the pain of drought and pestilence for his glory and the good of his people.
When we experience the droughts of life, we endure pain, sorrow, and hurt. We feel a spiritual dryness that seems to exist, separated from the Lord. The dryness reveals the need for spiritual rain that we cannot produce but comes from the Lord alone. Thus, the moments of spiritual drought form within us a calling to return to the Lord as his chosen people.
THE CRY FOR MERCY
Solomon spoke of the crossroads for the people. They would stand at the crossroads of lament and remain in their pain, or they could trust in the Lord's grace, mercy, and goodness and cry out for help. He indicated the four critical components of crying out to the Lord: humbling the self, seeking the Lord, praying, and turning from wickedness. Remember, these criteria extended to God’s chosen people. In humility, they must understand their true self in the presence of the Lord. In seeking, the people must seek the Lord alone for healing. In praying, the people must speak to the Lord and confess. In turning from wickedness, the people must turn from wickedness to righteousness.
Today, believers must recognize that spiritual drought must push them to cry out to the Lord. The ability to cry out properly occurs when we humble ourselves. Humility means that we do not think too highly of ourselves but instead properly view the self in the presence of the Lord. We must seek the Lord. When we seek the Lord, we strive to be in his presence and experience his help. We seek the Lord and not the self-help mentality of the world. We must pray to the Lord. We must communicate our dire situation and ask the Lord to help by sending the rain. We must turn from our wickedness by abandoning the ways against the Lord and living in righteousness.
THE LORD BRINGS THE RAIN
Solomon spoke to the Lord's response to his people’s cries. Solomon declared that the Lord would hear the people and extend forgiveness and healing. Forgiveness occurs as people confess their sins and seek for Lord to respond to them in forgiveness driven by his mercy. Mercy occurs when what is deserved is withheld. Thus, the people were asking for the deserved pain from sin to be removed as they confessed, not because they deserved it, but because of the mercy of God. At the same time, Solomon notes that the Lord brings healing to the land. The healing would occur as the rain came and restored the dry, thirsty ground. The rain brought healing to the ground and provided the needed restoration for growth and harvest.
The Lord continues to hear the cry of his people today. When his children cry out for forgiveness authentically, the Lord responds with his mercy. At the same time, the Lord provides not just forgiveness but healing. Healing comes from God’s grace because it is a gift we do not deserve. This healing happens as the Lord sends spiritual rain to heal the spiritual drought. God alone sends the rain to heal.
When you take a moment and consider your life, where does spiritual drought exist? How is the Lord using this drought to call you back to him? Will you humble yourself, seek the Lord, pray, and turn from your wickedness toward the Lord? Will you put these into practice and simply trust in the mercy and goodness of the Lord to bring the rain?
