“…I despise myself and repent…” Job 42:6

Repentance is the prelude to any real spiritual renewal. Job’s words reflect an attitude required for repentance to occur: despising one’s sin… and despising it so much as to never return to it again – a very difficult thing to do. You see, we are like dogs that return to lick up their own vomit (Not a very pretty picture is it? See Proverbs 26:11). We become captured by recurring patterns of illicit behavior after first becoming ensnared by temptation. To break free from sin requires a complete personal contempt for the action, which can happen through the help and guidance of The Holy Spirit convicting the heart toward a personal resolve of departure from the past.

At the anointing of the first Hebrew temple in Jerusalem, God provided a roadmap to national restoration if the nation ever left its foundational guidance of God’s righteous precepts. Just prior to offering the directions for the reestablishment of national peace and health, God told Solomon He had heard his prayers (2 Chronicles 7:12)! God then instructed Solomon the following:

“If my people, who are called by name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

The first obvious dynamic toward national healing is for God’s people to humble themselves in prayer, seeking God’s face. God did not require unbelievers to do so, for He would not attend to their prayers… like a child approaching the wrong adult for parental favor. Only those bearing His likeness and name capture the ear of The Almighty.

The second pre-requisite to national healing is to seek God’s face… not God’s handouts. It is not a ‘gimme-prayer’, seeking God for favor to make life easier, or for a quick fix, an easy solution… only to return to the same living as before. Seeking God’s face implies intimacy with God – closeness that resembles a child seeking her/his father’s hand-up and cuddle in his arms… next to his face. I still well remember the scruff of my father’s face, when as a child I would beg for him to pick me up and hold me close to his face. It’s that kind of intimacy… only in the spiritual dimension.

If a nation is to experience restoration, God requires a third action: that His people turn from wickedness. Without giving non-believers a pass on wicked living, God expected the leadership for such to come from His people. God was completely transparent with Solomon, knowing the nature of man to sin. God’s nature for reclaiming what is rightfully His and restoring those who had fractured relationship with Him is clearly evident in the above passage.

When those three intentional steps are taken by God’s people, then and only then God has promised first to listen. National prayers for God to remove the curse of sickness without turning from sin would be nothing more than the prophets of Baal unsuccessfully bidding their false god to miraculously burn their sacrifice (read 1 Kings 18). It won’t matter how loud the prayers may become, there would be no effective result. If we want God’s attention, if we wish to capture the ear of creations King, we must abandon the worship of anything that is taking God’s rightful place, and abhor any practices displeasing to God easily identified in scripture (see the 10 commandments for starters, found in Exodus 20).

When God’s guidance for national restoration is followed, God promises a second action: forgiveness of sin. It is the only thing God allows to be forgotten (read Isaiah 43:25; Hebrews 8:12; 10:16-17). God not only forgives sins, He removes them as far as the east from the west… that is eternally far from His conscience (read Psalm 103:10-12). Paul declared there would be great joy for those whose sin record has been cleared by The Lord (read Romans 4:8). Though the sinner may benefit from His forgiveness, God forgives for His own sake (Isaiah 43:25). It is a mystery which Believers will understand in Heaven’s joy.

God promises a third benefit to those who follow His plan for national restoration: the land will be healed. In other words, the plague will be lifted… the curse removed. The country will be restored to peacefully pursue the ideals of freedom as one nation under God’s rule.

Will you join me in humbling ourselves before God, seeking His face and echoing Job’s words:

I despise myself and repent.

What if your insistence to continue in your sin is the one thing keeping our country from experiencing healing… would you be moved to action then? When Job despised himself, he despised his actions – of carelessly and recklessly claiming complete innocence while demanding an audience with God. Once God forgives one’s sin, then one is restored in full relationship with The Father, Who loves with an eternal love. Then one can love oneself again and exercise the right love for her/his neighbor (read Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31).

Have a blessed day…