GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 6:36-42
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36 “When they sin against you, for there is no one who does not sin, and you become angry with them and give them over to an enemy, and they are taken captive to a land either far or near; 37 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and they repent and plead to you for mercy in the land of their captivity and say, ‘We have sinned. We have done wrong and we have done wickedly’; 38 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land where they were taken captive, and pray toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and toward the house I have built for your Name; 39 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas for mercy, and do justice for them. Forgive your people, who have sinned against you. (1 Kings 8:46-49)
This last long petition from Solomon is all about repentance. He begins by declaring the great truth that all have sinned, “for there is no one who does not sin” (verse 36). God had said in the days of Noah, “every inclination of the thoughts of man’s heart is only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). When the sins of the people became so offensive to God that he allowed the whole nation to be carried off, and after this they repented, Solomon prays, “hear their prayer and their pleas for mercy, and forgive them.”
Repentance isn’t just an outward confession. It takes place in the heart. It is afraid of the consequences of sin, which is hell. But seeing this, the heart is also touched by the promise of the Gospel. Sin is set aside, faith grasps the forgiveness of the Gospel, and the repentant sinner is brought back to Christ.
An angry human might store up rage and bitterness against someone who wronged him. “Woe [to him] that too late repents.” But God is patient and compassionate. A sinner who repents is a sinner God will forgive. The only “too late” is the “too late” of death.
Solomon expects that people in captivity would have some idea about where their homeland was, but it’s quite common to find people who have no sense of geography. Imagine how this would have been compounded in a time before there were compass directions, but only the general idea of where the wind blows from at various times of the year. A captive might feel the north wind blowing (Proverbs 25:3; Song of Solomon 4:16) and turn so that it was in his right eye and right ear and know he was facing to the west. But the temple might actually be hundreds of miles to the southwest, or even the south-southwest. They would be praying “toward the land, toward the city, toward the house” in their hearts. God does not condemn over compass points.
Today we are not bound to pray only at the temple or toward it. It is the contents of the heart that matters. “I repent the sin of disobedient opposition to you” begins such a prayer, “And beg your pardon: pardon, I beseech you! From here on I am ever ruled by you.” Whether our words are poetry, prose, or the outpouring of the heart, it is the contents of the heart that matters to our forgiving God.
40 “Now, please, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered at this place. 41 “Now arise, O LORD God, enter your resting place, you and the ark of your power. May your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, may your faithful ones rejoice in what is good. 42 O LORD God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember the great mercy promised to David your servant.”
Solomon concludes his prayer by simply asking God to hear and to answer, and not to reject him, the anointed king of Israel. He does not invoke any saints as he prays. He only refers to the promises made to David; he does not include David as anyone he prays to, nor does he address his prayer to Samuel, or any of the Judges, to Joshua, to Moses, to Joseph or his own ancestor Judah, nor to Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Noah or Adam. Scripture does not recommend praying to anyone apart from God, whether Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. Indeed, Scripture knows nothing of prayers to the Saints, which many Catholic theologians such as John Eck admit. Also, the adoration of the saints conflicts and flies in the face of the true adoration of God which Scripture commands. Or does the Holy Spirit lie to the pope when he says, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ” (1 Timothy 2:5)? Finally, the invocation of the saints disagrees with several clear passages of Scripture. Moses preaches: “Fear the Lord your God, serve him only, and take your oaths in his name” (Deuteronomy 6:13). Or was Jesus mistaken when he used that very passage in his defense against Satan: “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only’” (Matthew 4:10)? Prayer is an act of worship; we are to worship God alone, and no other (First Commandment).
Just where does prayer fit among the doctrines of the Scriptures? We consider prayer in the realm of sanctification, which is to say, not how we are rescued from sin and brought to heaven (which is justification), but what comes after: how we respond to God’s grace and mercy. Prayer is one of two important means of furthering or growing in our lives of sanctification; the other is bearing the cross. While the cross serves to take off the old Adam and to put on the new man, prayer is the way indicated by God to obtain the powers for sanctification.
Only God can give man powers for growing in sanctification and godly living, and he wants us to ask for them. James coaches us: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives it to all without holding back and without finding fault, and it will be given him” (James 1:5). And Paul says: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). Professor Hoenecke told his students: “Whoever prays but does not seek God’s promises about prayer in his Word is like a man who lets his pail down into a well but doesn’t pull it back up with water.” He is a man who asks and does not wait for the answer.
Pray, Chrsitian. Pray with the eagerness of receiving an answer from the God who loves you. If your groans are many and your heart is faint (Lamentations 1:22) and your agony pours out like water (Job 3:24), be comforted that the Holy Spirit kneels before the Father’s throne and groans on your behalf right there beside you (Romans 8:26). Our heavenly Father desires of us nothing more ardently than that we ask many and great things of him; and on the contrary, he is angered if we do not ask and demand confidently. So pray. Pray with confidence. Pray with eagerness. Pray with urgent expectation. Pray because your loving Father asks you to.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 6:36-42 Prayer