If God Went On Strike

If God Went On Strike

Scripture: 2 Chronicles 7:7–18, especially verse 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.”

Introduction: 

In our text, King Solomon considers what would happen to his nation, Israel, if God went on strike.

Our text seems to be telling us that at any time we can be cut off, for the Scripture says: “If I shut up the heavens..”  This signifies the possibility that God can.  So, I wonder, how often do we stop to thank God for the simple things in life: the earth?, the sunlight?, the air we breathe?, or do we just assume it will be there?  Some of us are just going along our merry way not even thanking God for allowing us the very privilege of life.

And the question that arises from the text today is, WHAT IF GOD GOES ON STRIKE?  What would happen if God decided to withhold from us the benefits of nature?  How would you fare if God goes on strike?  

Here in this portion of scripture we have Solomon, son of David, realizing the blessing that he has.  We see where has built a temple in Jerusalem and has prayed unto the Lord.  A grand celebration was given and sacrifices were made, 120,000 sheep and 22,000 oxen, all given in sacrifice for all that God had done.  In consideration for what God had allowed Solomon to do in the building of the temple at the summit on Mt. Moriah, Solomon was thankful to the Lord.

The temple was ever so glorious, full of finery from all around.  The nails were made of fifty shekels of gold, the beams were made of gold, and cherubim all around made of gold…. Precious stones and gems decorated the temple.  In a modern day assessment the building was 660,000 cubic feet.  It was a tall as it was wide.  Imagine that if you will.  It was glorious….brass pots and lamps lining the walls of the temple…..all for the glorification of God.

A lot of labor and effort went into the building of the house of God.  In consideration for the task that he was able to do, Solomon never forgot that it was God who allowed him to get from the plans to the finished temple.  The effort and the energy that it took to complete it was nothing more than the Lord blessing him.  For the Word tells us, “except the Lord build a house…we labor in vain.”  We see here Solomon in his prayer offering thanks to God for the blessing of the completion of the temple.

In all of his praying, in all of his ceremonial celebration, Solomon waited for an answer from the Lord.  The Chronicle writer states in verse 1 that “The Lord’s glory filled the temple.”  The Lord heard Solomon’s prayer.  God’s presence filled the temple and the people were in awe of the presence of God.  And then the writer says, “The Lord appeared unto Solomon and said, Solomon, I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice.  If I shut up heaven so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land or send pestilence among my people; if my people who are called by my name, shall 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 will heal their land.”  You see God was concerned about the plight of the people with whom a covenant had been made.  God wanted them to know that He was still God above everything and anyone else.  Israel had a penchant for turning away from God each time He had blessed them.  They were easily persuaded into serving other gods, and they were quick to forget how good their God had been to them.  Oh how often we, too, forget how good God has been to us.

The proclamation made to Solomon is one that was firm and a strong warning to Israel to remain faithful to God.  For if Israel remained faithful to the covenant, God would continue to bless them. But if they were unfaithful in their ways, God would ultimately destroy Israel.  God would withhold the blessings they had been receiving.  God in his withholding could - if you will - go on strike.

Have you ever felt as if God were on strike?  Does it ever seem to you like He is withholding His blessings, or sending the locust to devour, or allowing a pestilence of troubles to beset you?

Fortunately, God provides the answer of how to pray.  God provides a road-map out of those type of situations.  We escape those situations by following God's plan and receiving His promises.

1. Following God’s Plan.
1. Humility
1. The first condition is to humble ourselves.  We aren’t to wait for someone else to give us humility, God says that we are to attack pride and force ourselves to be humble.  God wants you to see yourself as He does - no more and no less.  I’ve been helped by something I have heard said somewhere: “He is God and we are not.”  He is in charge, not me. 
2. We need to be humbled because we know that God does not hear the prayers of the proud.  James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 
3. Humility is the opposite of pride.  If we think we’re better than we are then we have no need for a Savior.
2. A young woman went to her pastor and said, "Pastor, I have a besetting sin, and I want your help.  I come to church on Sunday and can’t help thinking I’m the prettiest girl in the congregation.  I know I ought not think that, but I can’t help it.   I want you to help me with it."  The pastor replied, "Mary, don’t worry about it.     In your case it’s not a sin.  It’s just a horrible mistake."
3. Consider the attitude of the Pharisee who prayed in the temple in Luke 18:11-14.  He exemplifies the haughty, arrogant spirit.  The Scripture says that Jesus spoke this to certain ones who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and despised others.  Hear his prayer-  "God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'  And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!'  I tell you (Jesus said), this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  
4. Humility means two things.   One, a capacity for self-criticism. ...The second feature is allowing others to shine, affirming others, empowering and enabling others.  
5. (Philippians 2:3) "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself."
6. (1 John 1:8-10) “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
2. Prayer 
1. After humbling ourselves, we are commanded to pray. This seems a little easier than the first one because we all know how to ask God for things.  This verse reminds us to pray as Jesus taught His disciples to pray:  Begin with the greatness of God and then focus on our needs.  Solomon followed this model in chapter 6.  He started out with praise in verse 14: “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth” and then moved into petition in verse 17: “…Let your word that you promised your servant David come true.” 
2. But not all praying bears spiritual fruit.  The Pharisees prayed, and prayed regularly and loud and long, to be heard of others, but Jesus said that they had all the reward they were going to get when they sought only the praise of men.  Notice that the Pharisee in Luke 18 really wasn’t praying to God-he was having a conversation with himself-about himself, and how wonderful he was!  It was a totally selfish, self-centered prayer.
3. Matthew 6:5-"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward."  Matthew 23:5-7 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.   They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,  greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, "Rabbi, Rabbi.'   Sound like anyone you know of today?  We can understand, then, why Jesus was so critical of the Scribes and Pharisees.  They were fakes.  They were inwardly corrupt.
4. (Matthew 7:7) "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."
5. R.A. Torrey,  —-  Some years ago we often sang a hymn, "Take Time to Be Holy."  I wish we sang it more in these days.  It takes time to be holy; one cannot be holy in a hurry, and much of the time that it takes to be holy must go into secret prayer.  Some people express surprise that professing Christians today are so little like their Lord, but when I stop to think how little time the average Christian today puts into secret prayer the thing that astonishes me is, not that we are so little like the Lord, but that we are as much like the Lord as we are.
3. Seek God’s face 
1. The third condition is to “seek God’s face.”  The idea of seeking implies a desire for something of great value.  It’s like the woman who searched for her lost coin or the shepherd with 100 sheep who, having lost one, left the 99 and went searching for the one who had wandered off.  It’s like the man seeking a pearl of great price, who having found it gives all that he has in order to purchase it.  When you seek something of value, you rearrange your schedule and priorities until you find it.  When we seek something, we are persistent.
2. Matthew 7:7 promises that when we seek we will find. Jeremiah 29:13 says that when we seek God with our whole heart, we will find Him.
3. Now, how do we seek “God’s face”?   In the Bible, this phrase is used of someone desiring an audience with a prince or with God Himself.  This is how it is used in Psalm 27:8: “My heart says of you, ‘Seek His face!’ Your face, Lord, I will seek.”  The idea is that we desire to align ourselves with His will and His kingdom purposes.  It means simply to get our will in line with His.
4. To seek God’s face is to seek fellowship with Him, and conformity to His will. The Pharisees wanted their own will to be done, not God’s.  Mark 7:10-13  "For Moses said, "Honor your father and your mother'; and, "He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'   But you say, "If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban"--' (that is, a gift to God),  then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down.  And many such things you do.""
5. (1 Chronicles 16:11) "Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face evermore!"
6. A.W. Tozer, “If we yearned after God even as much as a cow yearns for her calf, we would be the worshipping and effective believers God wants us to be.  If we longed for God as a bride looks forward to the return of her husband, we would be a far greater force for God than we are now.”

1. Turn from our wicked ways
1. Just as God’s people in the Old Testament often turned their backs on God, so too we have that same tendency.  They were prone to follow idols and so are we.  We need to recognize that anything in our lives which keeps us from being all that God desires for us is a “wicked way” in God’s sight.  Stephen Olford refers to this aspect as “holiness in prayer.”  He goes on to say “to have defilement in our hands, to have dissension in our spirits, and to have doubting in our hearts is to cancel out all effectiveness in prayer.”
2. There’s really no way to soften the command to turn from our wicked ways.  God accepts only one response to sin, not rationalizing, not excusing, and not comparing ourselves to others.  He demands that WE TURN FROM IT!  Do you want God’s best?  Then deal with the “wicked ways” that are holding you back from the very answers you’re seeking.  God isfl calling each of us right now to turn from our wicked ways.
3. (Proverbs 28:13) "He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy."
4. Gordon MacDonald, “Repentance is not basically a religious word.  It comes from a culture where people were essentially nomadic and lived in a world with no maps or street signs.  It’s easy to get lost walking through the desert.  You become aware that the country side is strange.  You finally say to yourself, I’m going in the wrong direction.  That’s the first act of repentance.  The second act of repentance is to go in an alternate direction.  It implies that you not only do this but you admit it to your companions. 
5. (Isaiah 55:7) "Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon."
6. (Ezekiel 18:31) "Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?"
2. Conclusion
1. When God’s people follow God’s plan then follows God’s promises.  Let’s look briefly at the three promises God gives in this verse.  These promises come after the word, “then.”  If my people do these 4 things, then I will do these three things.
1. God will hear. 
1. When we pray as God directs us to pray, He promises that He will hear our prayers.  We don’t have to worry about getting God’s attention.  He delights in hearing the prayers of His children.  Psalm 121:4 says, “Indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”
2. God will forgive. 
1. The second promise is that God will forgive our sins. To forgive means to “send away” or “to let go.” Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”  God is the only one who can forgive our sins and make us clean again.  As 1 John 1:9 states, when we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
2. There are at least two kinds of forgiveness taught in Scripture.  Our initial forgiveness happens at conversion.  I call this redemptive forgiveness.  The other forgiveness has to do with a daily cleansing when we confess our sins to God.  I call this restorative forgiveness.
3. God will heal. 
1. The last promise has to do with national blessing for the nation of Israel.  When God’s people committed to God’s plan, God sent healing to their land.  During the reign of King Ahab the land experienced a terrible famine, and only in response to the prayers of Elijah did the rains come.  The word, “heal” means “to repair” or “to restore.” 
4. I know this particular promise is to the nation of Israel, but I see an application for us today.  Many of us are in need of spiritual repair and restoration.  We long for healing of our emotions, our spirits, and , yes, even our bodies. So, too, is our country certainly in need of God’s restoration.
5. Let me explain how I view our role in God sending this restoration.  Here’s how it works.  While we are commanded to pray for our nation, we can’t just complain and bemoan how bad things are in our country.  You see, WE are the problem.  America’s problem is not so much in our system but in us.  God always intends for revival to start with His people.  It goes from the Christian to the Church to the Community to the County to the Country and then to the Continents.  Are you willing for it to start with you?
6. When someone has a heart attack, sometimes doctors will use a defibrillator in order to restart the heart.  They d•o it all the time on ER.  Someone yells, “clear” and then they put the paddles on the chest.  A jolt of electric current flows through the paddles in the hopes of getting the heart to start beating again.
7. I wonder if God wants to do the same thing with your heart this morning.  A once strong spiritual life can start slowing down or even stop beating.  Something radical has to be done to restart a heart for God. That’s where God brings out His paddles.
8. You see, all of the shocking things that might make it seem as if God has gone on strike, may actually be His attempts to jump start the spiritual lives of His people.