Suppose some bright doctor finds a miracle vaccine for COVID-19. And let’s suppose the doctor says the vaccine requires four separate shots in order to be effective. The data shows this four-shot vaccine is working all over the world. But let’s imagine a certain group of people decide to only take one of the four shots. And unlike the rest of the world, we discover this group does not recover but remain sick.
If this scenario were real, what would be your advice to the “one-shot” group of people? It would probably be something along these lines: “The doctor said the miracle vaccine requires four separate shots. The data shows this is effective everywhere. Can’t you see what’s happening? You’re still sick because you’re not following the doctor’s prescription. Take all four shots if you want to get well!”
I contend our current dilemma is due to God’s judgment on the land. Like the children of Abraham, we are a stiff-necked people. We have forgotten the God of Scripture. In America today, instead of worshiping the true and living God, we worship money and power and fame. The opinions of reality TV personalities carry more weight than “Thus saith the LORD.” We’re more interested in how celebrities are living than in how God has called us to live. We’ve memorized the lyrics of hundreds of popular songs and commercial jingles, but how many Bible verses have we committed to memory? We are a nation of unrepentant sinners. God is not in our thoughts. Romans 3:10-18 declares:
As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God. They have all turned away. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of vipers is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. The way of peace, they haven’t known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
That pretty much summarizes life in the USA! But God has a fix for that! 2 Chronicles 7:13 is His fix for unrepentant sinners:
“If I shut up the sky so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people…” God says He is the one behind these super-natural disasters. We may not want to accept this fact, but it’s true just the same. God uses pain to prepare us for revival. So the dilemma, our dilemma, is presented in verse 13. God’s miracle remedy for our ills is laid out in verse 14:
“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves (shot #1), pray (shot #2), seek my face (shot #3), and turn from their wicked ways (shot #4), THEN I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
The prescription for the cure is an “IF-THEN” scenario. IF we take all four shots, THEN we can expect to be healed by the great Physician. However, if we just pray, but not turn from our wicked ways, and not humble ourselves, and refuse to seek God’s face, then we should have no reasonable expectation of being heard, or forgiven, or healed! You can’t take just one shot of a four-shot miracle vaccine and expect a miracle!
As a nation, we must humble ourselves, AND we must pray, AND we must seek God’s face, AND we must turn from our national sins. What are those national sins? I list three of them in the new book, “America, Can You Hear God Now?” I also explain what it means to seek God’s face. We explore the paradox of humility. And we discuss the power of prayer. Get a copy today @ Amazon, and share it with your friends and family. A national revival is the answer to our current dilemma! National pain is God’s preparation for national revival!
Grace, Peace and Jahspeed!
Note: Click on the book to order. This is the new title of the previous version.