God’s Solution

The national difficulties mentioned in 2 Chronicles 7:13 are the plagues that Moses warned would befall Israel if the nation neglected God. Moses anticipated and warned against a time when Israel’s peace and prosperity would lead to spiritual complacency:

Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the LORD your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the LORD your God … I assure you of this: If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods, worshipping and bowing to them, you will certainly be destroyed (Deut. 8:11–14a, 19).

Importantly, Moses’ solution was fundamentally the same as God’s instruction in 2 Chronicles 7:13–14: “I command you this day to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy” (Deut. 30:16).

God’s solution to our problems remains the same today. His solution is consistently sprawled across the pages of Scripture from beginning to end: Stop rebelling. God told Cain in the first pages of the Old Testament, “You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out!” (Gen. 4:7a). And Jesus announced in the New Testament, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, your soul, and all your mind’” (Matt. 22:37).

What we can do when confronted with the consequences of our rebellion is stop rebelling. We can replace our defiance with obedience. In short, we can love God and obey Him.

This article comes from Heart of a Forerunner: How to Be a Relevant and Influential Voice in a Wayward Nation

Download your free copy here.