After Solomon completed the construction of the temple in Jerusalem, he dedicated it to the Lord and the Lord’s presence filled the temple. Solomon then reminded God of the covenant He had made with Israel, to bless them if they obeyed His statutes and commandments. Here God tells them (and us) that if they fell into sin, all they had to do was humble themselves, pray, and seek His face and He would forgive and heal them.<\/p>\n
A man on the Northern California coast decided that a large cask, weighted and anchored offshore in a bay, would serve as a good duck blind. He rigged one up, and a friend rowed him out and helped him into the barrel. He got so busy shooting at the evening flight of ducks that he didn’t notice that the anchor line had broken, and that he was helplessly floating out on the tide. A light wind blowing offshore sent him out to sea, where a dense fog had settled with the darkness. He feared he was lost. When his partner returned to pick him up from the barrel, the partner guessed his fate and rowed out into the bay, firing his gun and shouting. At last the lost hunter was located and rescued from the sea.<\/p>\n
Many fall into sin and drift away from the anchor of the Lord. They are often well on their way toward disaster before they appreciate their danger. Lost in the fog and darkness of doubt and sin, God waits for them to humble themselves and turn toward Him for rescue and forgiveness.<\/p>\n
“LORD, we humble ourselves before You, seek Your face, and turn from our sins. Please forgive us and heal our land.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 Chronicles 7 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0filled the house.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And the priests could not enter into the house of the\u00a0LORD, because the glory of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had filled the\u00a0LORD\u2019Shouse.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the\u00a0LORD,\u00a0saying\u00a0<\/em>, For\u00a0he is\u00a0<\/em>good; for his mercy\u00a0endureth\u00a0<\/em>for ever. 4<\/sup> Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the\u00a0LORD.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And the priests waited on their offices: the Levites also with instruments of musick of the\u00a0LORD, which David the king had made to praise the\u00a0LORD, because his mercy\u00a0endureth\u00a0<\/em>for ever, when David praised by their ministry; and the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.\u00a0\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>before the house of the\u00a0LORD: for there he offered burnt offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the brasen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, and the meat offerings, and the fat. 8<\/sup> Also at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt.\u00a09<\/sup>And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.\u00a0\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had shewed unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0Thus Solomon finished the house of the\u00a0LORD, and the king\u2019s house: and all that came into Solomon\u2019s heart to make in the house of the\u00a0LORD, and in his own house, he prosperously effected. 12<\/sup>\u00a0And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;\u00a014<\/sup>If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.\u00a0\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer\u00a0that is made<\/em>in this place.\u00a0\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments;\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man\u00a0to be\u00a0<\/em>ruler in Israel.\u00a0\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it\u00a0to be\u00a0<\/em>a proverb and a byword among all nations.\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the\u00a0LORD\u00a0done thus unto this land, and unto this house?\u00a022<\/sup>And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the\u00a0LORDGod of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After Solomon completed the construction of the temple in Jerusalem, he dedicated it to the Lord and the Lord’s presence filled the temple. Solomon then reminded God of the covenant He had made with Israel, to bless them if they obeyed His statutes and commandments. Here God tells them (and us) that if they fell […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7147"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16357,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7147\/revisions\/16357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}