What’s the easiest way to bring the Bible to life? Easy? Can anything be easy that comes from the Bible?  Those pages don’t turn themselves. And they’re heavy, let me tell you.

Enough kidding around. I want to bring the Bible to my life and I’m pretty sure you do too. Where do you start? Right here and now, of course. Just read this line from the Bible:

...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves…

This phrase is not telling us to humble ourselves to our neighbors or co-workers, family members or friends. It’s all about our relationship with God.

Originally, God gave this message to King Solomon, head of the Kingdom of Israel. And Solomon shared it with the people by writing it down in the book known as Second Chronicles. Read the full verse and then we’ll dig into it:

…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 I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV

What did God mean with the phrase, if my people, who are called by my name…

To start, God could be referring to the Israelites as his people. After all, they’re the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But what does called by my name mean? In the Bible, the name of God is given variously as Yahweh, God the Father, Jehovah, and many more. His son’s name is Jesus Christ.

Godites, Yahwehians or Christians

Does any name fit: Godites? Yahwehians? Jesuvians? Christians? Wait a minute…?

The name Christian means: one who belongs to Christ or one who follows Christ.  

Kurtbrouwer.com

After that opening line, God gave Solomon four steps to take when we’ve become separated from God. When we have sinned, when we have done something wrong.

…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves…

If you’re like me, the concept of humbling yourself doesn’t come naturally. Yet we’re not talking about humbling yourself before our fellow humans, but rather before God. 

Do You Know The Mind Of God?

Consider this: 

Who has known the mind of the Lord
    or been able to give him advice?
¹⁴ Whom did he ask for help?
    Who taught him the right way?
Who taught him knowledge
    and showed him the way to understanding?

Isaiah 40:13-14 NCV

Has God ever come to you for advice? Does he need you? Did you instruct him on how the universe should be run? Perhaps you’ve tried to tell God how to run things. But I suspect you have found, it just does not work that way. Maybe we should try a new strategy. Let’s try taking advice from God and see how that goes. Now, go with the second step:

…and pray… 

God also tells us to pray. Jesus prayed and communed with his Father. Let’s take that as good advice. Pray. For forgiveness. Guidance. Wisdom. Good judgment. Peace. God simply instructs us to pray. Then what?

and seek my face…

Seek My Face…

We don’t have an image of God the Father, but we have some ideas of Jesus Christ, his son. Here is one of the earliest likenesses of our Lord from the fourth century.

Seek his face could also mean seek his presence. When you pray, the goal is to be in the presence of God. Come before him with humility and awe because you are seeking the presence of the creator of the heavens and the earth. 

To seek his face means to seek his good will, his benevolence. To walk softly, for God holds your life in his hands. So seek him with all you heart. With everything. 

Then What?

Then God tells us to change. To stop doing the very thing that caused the trouble in the first place. We became separated from God due to something. He does not change, so we did something that separated ourselves from him. God goes on to tell us to stop sinning and separating ourselves from him:

and turn from their wicked ways, 

Turn from their wicked ways. Turn away from the darkness and turn towards the light. Stop lying about things. Don’t envy or judge other people. Remember that human anger does not produce the righteous life God desires for us.

Seek God first in the day. Last at night. Consult him first. Slowly back away from everything that separates you from God. 

So now the verse begins to take shape as a formula for living in harmony with God. Let’s keep going:

…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, 

Consider Your Behavior Through God’s Eyes

You may not have thought of yourself as being caught in wicked ways. We all like to justify our behavior. But now, consider your behavior from God’s eyes. Have you followed the commands Jesus gave us?

Have you loved God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind? Loved your neighbor as yourself? Do you treat others the way you’d like to be treated? Have you ever told a lie? Gotten murderously angry at someone? Have you ever lusted, envied? Do you judge others harshly?

Yikes!

I Fall Short Quite Often…

Don’t know about you, but I have failed on all of those commands more often than I’ve succeeded. I keep turning to God and seeking him, but I fall short quite often. That’s why I seek forgiveness and why this verse means so much to me.

Do you want God to hear you? Want forgiveness? Do you want the very land itself to be healed? God tells us that if we take these four steps, then he’ll respond. 

…if my people, who are called by my name, will 

(1) humble themselves and 

(2) pray and 

(3) seek my face and 

(4) turn from their wicked ways, 

then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Only Four Steps

If we take these four steps, God will hear us, will forgive us, and will even heal the land.

Rather than take my word for it, turn to God. Take his word and follow the formula he gave King Solomon thousands of years ago. This verse is a pathway and a plan to bring you back into kinship with God, basking in his love. 

The words in the Bible can be much more than just words on paper or in an ebook. That is, if you bring them to life, each and every day.

Yours in Christ, Kurt