Humbling Ourselves

 2 Chronicles 7:14 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 came up during a prayer meeting today and we were discussing what it is to humble ourselves.  Fasting and prayer where mentioned as ways we can humble ourselves but then Isaiah 58 came to mind. “Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ “In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. 4 Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high. 5 Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord?

6 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness shall be as the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. 13 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the Lord honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words, 14 Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord;
And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

 

Fasting, in and of itself, can be a prideful thing as much as a humbling thing.  What makes the difference?  The fast that is humble, the one that the Lord chooses is that which leads to action towards others.  Start in verse 6 of Isaiah 58 and we see that the Lord is looking for fasting and prayer that leads to action. 

 “To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?”  We live in a world that is so bond in wickedness and oppression from the evil one.  Yet are we doing anything to loose those bonds, to undo the heavy burdens to let the oppressed free? 

You make ask how can any of us do this.  I believe that the answer is by taking the gospel to them.  If our prayer and fasting for the those bound and oppressed by sin doesn’t lead us to action of telling them the gospel what good is it?  Biblical humility is to lead us to action just as Biblical faith, grace and love should.  As I think over all the verses that speak of grace, faith, love they are always connected with fruit of action.  

I honestly cannot think of one verse that instructs believers to pray for the lost to come to Christ but I do remember a verse where Christ said to pray for believers to go to the lost. 

Luke 10:2  Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

The great commission, which is found in each of the 4 gospels, doesn’t speak to us to sit and pray for the lost but to go to the lost with the message of salvation.  As a people called by His name could it be said that the wicked ways we need to turn from is our lack of love for the lost?  How can we say that we actually have love for the lost if we are not speaking to them the gospel?  If we desire to see our land healed would not leading people to salvation accomplish this?  Are not the issues that plague our land right now traceable back to the root of sin and to people bound and oppressed by sin?  

2 Chronicles 7:14 is a verse often used in the church for how to bring about revival but do we have a true understanding of what real revival looks like? Real revival isn’t 24-hour prayer, praise and worship meetings.  Real revival isn’t just about seeing a glory cloud, healings or miracle manifestations.  Real revival is seeing the dead brought to life and the those a sleep being awaken.  Every person who repents and is converted is a revival.  Real revival has a lasting effect. An effect the transforms the environment.  We get enough real revival going on and our land changes.  Why because people who are truly saved stop doing the evil that they once did.  So crime goes down, poverty goes down, addictions go down, basically as the number of people who get set free from sin goes up the sinful actions that lead to the plagues of our society go down.  The way to make America great again is not found in a political party or a political figure.  It is found in the message of salvation through Jesus Christ.  

Will we humble ourselves, which is to think less about ourselves and to think more about others, and go to a lost, bound, oppressed world with the gospel that will set them free OR will we continue in our pride and speak to God about people instead of speaking to people about God?  Fear of speaking to strangers, lack of knowledge of how to witness to the lost are 2 of the main reasons people give for not participating in personal evangelism.  Will we humble ourselves enough to overcome those things that hinder us from evangelizing?