FINDING HOPE IN THE DROUGHT

Intro:

what a blessing it is to be here with you guys tonight. I am excited to see how the Lord is going to speak to us tonight.

if you have your bible , turn with me to 2 Chron. 7.

i’ve been going through the book of 2 Chron. in my own study time and as i was asked to teach tonight, there were sometimes i was already looking at, that i thought would be great for us as a congregation to look at.

And my desire tonight is that the Lord will minister to you personally. That there would some things the Holy Spirit will challenge you on, that the Holy Spirit will encourage you, and ultimately that we would all leave here with a greater desire to pursue after the things of God.

The title of my message today is..... “ Finding Hope in the Drought”

wikipedia describes a drought as this…

A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions. This means that a drought is "a moisture deficit relative to the average water availability at a given location and season". A drought can last for days, months or years. Drought often exerts substantial impacts on the ecosystems and agriculture of affected regions and cause harm to the local economy.Periods of heat can significantly worsen drought conditions by hastening evaporation of water vapour.

Transition

there are a few things to take note of on the definition of a drought.

Facts About A Drought

A lack or deficit in average water supply

A drought can last a few days, months or years

A drought can have a huge impact on its surrounding region

A drought can become significantly worse by periods of extreme heat.

now the reason i want to draw your attention this is because of the same principals that are at work in within our lives when we talk about a spiritual drought.

A spiritual drought is caused by the lack of the intake of the water of the word, or the lack of the filling of the Holy Spirit

A person can experience a spiritual drought for a few days or months even years .

a person who is in a spiritual drought can have a huge impact on his/her sphere of influence

A person in a spiritual drought can become greatly affected by the rise of the heat of the culture around him/her.

and so just as we are aware of the what the lack of rain looks like and the effects it has on us phycally, i want us to take a look at the reality of our experience in a spiritual drought and to see God’s heart in this.

we will take a look at a passage you may be familiar with and may have a connection with this in regards to a nation as a whole..... but i want us to look at this and bring it home to our personal lives, our personal relationship with God.

Background

allow me to set the stage in our story in order to have the proper context in our passage.

king David had a heart to build the temple of God. Yet God would tell David that he would not be the one to build the temple but his son Solomon would be.

David spent his final years preparing and gathering the material that would be necessary for Solomon to build the temple.

Setting the Stage

in chp. 5 of 2 Chron. King Solomon has finished building the temple of the Lord

Solomon Finished Building the Temple (2 Chron. 5)

- they brought the ark of the Lord into the temple (v.1-5)

- they gathered the congregation before the temple (v.6)

- they began to worship God (v.12-13)

- the glory of the Lord filled the temple when they worshiped (v.13-14)

Solomon’s Completion Speech (2 Chron. 6:1-11)

- declaring God had chosen Jerusalem as the place to dwell and He had chosen David to be the man over His people (v.6)

- declaring God was faithful to fulfill His promise to David, that his son would build the temple (v.10)

Solomon’s prayer (2 Chron. 6:12-42)

- Prayer of praise (v.14)

- Prayer of acknowledging God’s faithfulness to fulfill His promise (v.15)

- Prayer for God to keep His promise regarding David’s sons (v.16)

- Prayer to hear the prayers of the people (V.19-21)

- To hear their prayers in failure, in confession, in willful rebellion, in hardships, in defeats of battles

Transition

Now Solomon’s heart in this prayer was for God to hear the prayers of His people as they would pray in the temple or pray towards the temple.

and it is neat because what we find is that God not only hears Solomon’s prayer but God brings confirmation and approval of this prayer by coming down and consuming the sacrifices offered with fire, by filling the temple with His glory......

and years later from the time of Solomon dedicated the temple in v.1-11 of chp. 7, God would appear to Solomon a second time and confirm and validate his prayer. But with this validation of Solomon’s prayer comes the reality of our hearts as sinful people, the responsibility that we have have and God gives promise to those who seek Him.

this is what we want to look at tonight.

I. God Brings Confirmation to Solomon’s prayer (v.12)

God appears to Solomon here for the second time. The first time was when Solomon became king

(2 Chron. 1:7) God said, “ Ask anything I and I will give it to you”. and we saw Solomon ask for wisdom to lead God’s people.

God here was confirming to Solomon that the temple would be a place where His presence dwelt and a place where He heard the prayers of the people.

interesting that God said He chose this place ( the temple) to be a house of sacrifice. A place where there would be atonement found through the blood of the animal sacrifices. This would be necessary to have a right relationship with God. It was here that God was promising to meet His people and to hears His people .

now as God brings validation and confirmation to Solomon’s prayer, God gives us insight into the reality of the heart of the people.

II. God Gives the Reality of the People’s Hearts (v.13)

There are a few words we want to keep an eye out for as we study this passage. These words help us to determine what is being said.

The first word that starts God’s thought is “When”. When the “I shut the heaven and there is no rain.” That word when is very diffiate .... it is saying that this will for sure happen, it is a guarantee.

now this is in response to Solomon’s prayer in 2 Chron. 6:26

“ When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you.”.....Hear from heaven.

Solomon gives us insight into the reality that times of drought will come, God confirms this.... and the reason times of drought come , is because of sin.

interesting that times of drought, times of plaques , times of pestilences are all linked in the old testament with the consequences of the sins of the people.

-1 Kings. 17:1, 18:1-2, shows God stopping the heavens from bringing rain and bringing a famine in the land as a result of the Idolatry and false worship by the people in the land. There was a dry season for 3 ½ years. We see God use Elijah as His vessel to bring the consequences of the people’s choices.

Application

There can often times be a dry season in our lives because of sin. Sometimes it is a willful sin, sometimes it is because of a neglecting to maintain a proper relationship with God. Distance can be created which can lead to a lack of rain or lack of spiritual moisture in our lives which leads to being spiritual famine.

God knows our hearts too well, the reality that we are prone to get distracted, we are prone to wonder and need to be corrected to the right path.

We are prone to wonder

Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

Isaiah 53:6 NKJV

All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

God knows this reality in us. That there is a natural bend in us to go astray , to wander as a sheep. We often think of a person wandering away from God as someone completely backslidden, living a life of outward gross sin, and that can become a dangerous deception to us.

but because we may not find ourselves in a willful sinful lifestyle, then I can be convinced I am in a right, growing and fruitful relationship with God.

yet a famine does not happen overnight, there are days, months and years of the lack of rain, lack of water to a field….. that cultivate hardened soil producing no fruit.

This can happen to us, we can begin to experience signs of famine , or signs of dryness in our spiritual lives. The cause is , that at some point, I have failed to bring in the regular moisture to my heart. I have neglected to bring the water of the word into my life.

this can often be indventenly. Without us actually knowing it that we are doing it.

now we have to look at the responsibility that is on us.

III. God’s Gives the us Our Responsibility (v.14)

the second word we have to take note of is “IF” . IF MY PEOPLE . This word signifies condition or choice. This gives us insight into the fact that we have a responsibility or a choice to make. God has revealed that there is a natural bend in us to become distracted and become distant from Him, but this is a choice. There is a choice to be close and near to God and there is a choice to allow distance to be formed.

now this choice or responsibility is not for everyone. God specifically spoke about “His people”. God was addressing specifically the nation of Israel. Those that were in a covenant with Him.

the beautiful thing is that because of the work of Jesus on the cross, you and I have been adopted into the family of God. These principals and promises are now for us, the church as well.

Ephesians 1:3–6 NKJV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

now we want to look at the things God says to His people. There is no doubt that we will all at one point or another experience seasons of drought within our lives. Here God gives some principals to apply to our lives in the midst of a drought.

A Responsibility to be Humble themselves(v.14)

Merriam Webster’s Dictionary –describes “humble” in the verb- to destroy the power , independence or prestige.

-interesting that the verb of this word gives us insight into what our natural problem often times is. There is desire for power or authority in my own life, there is a longing to be independent of others , independent of God and a need be recognized.

it is often when we enter into willful sin, or when we begin neglecting our relationship with God, that one or all of these things will be present. A desire for me to be independent of God’s authority in my life, or a need for me to be the center of attention.

Transition

a few chapters later in 2 Chron. 12:1, Solomon’s son would become King. And he would do what was evil in the sight of God. He would be responsible for the division in the Nation of Israel.

2Chron.12:1

“ Now it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that he forsook the law of the Lord”. 2 Chron. 12:1

- he came to the place where he was independent in his reign as king and no longer needed to depend on God. And this lack of dependence cultivated a rebellious spirit, what we call “PRIDE”

This can often be the cause of a dry season spiritually in our lives. There can lack of dependence on God , which can lead to neglecting the things of God, could cause neglect in spending as much time as I once did in God’s word, in prayer, in fellowship with believers….

there has to be a breaking down of that independent spirit within me by recognizing my dependence on God. The closer I draw myself to God in His word, in prayer, the more I begin to understand my short comings and my need for God in my life. A proper perspective is gained by being near the Lord.

Rehoboam

in that same chapter 12 , we see the king of Egypt come up and attack Jerusalem, carrying the treasures within the temple. God would send a prophet to Rehoboam to tell him because of his pride, because he had abandoned God, God had abandon him…. There was consequences, a hardship due to his pride. Rehoboam and the leaders would acknowledge their failure and would humble themselves before God and God would hear them and would deliver them.

2Chron.12:6-7

6 The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is just.” 7 When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: “Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak

God’s heart is for us to be Humble

God’s heart is for us to be Humble

James 4:6 NKJV

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

James 4:10 NKJV

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

1 Peter 5:5 NKJV

Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

2. A Responsibility to Pray and to Seek God (v.14)

i put these two things together because often times our seeking God is connected to prayer, spending time with God and communicating with God. There is a responsibility to pursue a proper relationship with God where we are in direct communication with Him.

The Kneeling Christian

“ The word “prayer” really means “a wish directed towards”, that is, towards God. All that true prayer, seeks God Himself, for with Him we get all we need. Prayer is simply “ the turning of the soul to God.” David describes it as the lifting up of the living soul to the living God”. Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul” ps.25:1

The word - Seek- is to search out (by any method, specifically in worship or prayer); by implication, to strive after – The word seek- is really speaking about pursuing after something with no regard of the cost.

Interesting that what tends to keep us from pursuing after God in prayer and in our devotion time is often .... the cost we have to pay.

I don’t want to wake up early, I don’t want to go to sleep late, I don’t want to have to put away things that are important to me at the moment in order to spend time seeking God in prayer. There is a cost we must pay in pursuing and seeking after God.

- The only way we can pay the price required in pursuing God… is the sacrificing of self.

Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Achieving Greatness

we are all in amazement when we hear a piece of music played skillfully, when we see an artist paint a beautiful picture, when we see professional athletes or Olympians compete at the highest level.

- We get to experience a few minutes of greatness that took years of preparation, years of sacrifice, years of pursuing a passion regardless of the cost.

- Paul understood this as he wrote to the Corinthian believers this…. 1 Cor. 9:24-27

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 NKJV

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

Application

Pursuing and seeking God in prayer is something that is cultivated. It is a habit that is learned over consistent repetition of denying self.

“If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. Luke 9:23

God’s promises those who seek him is that they will find Him

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. James 4:8

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jer. 29:13

3. A Responsibility to Repent

- Repentance is what God is longing for. A turning away from whatever it is that has caused our affections to be moved from God. Whatever it is that has caused the dryness within our lives. It is not always sin…. Sometimes it is good things that take up our time, that become our priority in our lives over the things of God.

In the book of Rev. 2, Jesus would bring a charge on the church of Ephesus. A church that from the outside appeared to have everything working. All the outward signs of a thriving and growing church.

- Yet Jesus would say , “you have left your first love”. There were things that had taken the priority of the love they once had for God.

They would be called to remember where you have fallen, repent, and to go back and re-do the first works.

- There was a call to examine themselves , examine and evaluate their hearts. To see the thing that had taken their affection and to remove those things or to remove themselves from certain a certain path they were on.

Application

in the book of Nehemiah we see that God would raise him up to go back Israel from Babylon and to help build the wall that had been destroy during the time of captivity.

- Neh. 2:11-13

11 So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12 Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode. 13 And I went out by night through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and the Refuse Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire.

Neh. 2:17

17 Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.”

See an examination was first necessary to see what the problem was. Only after examining the walls could Nehemiah decide what needed to be repaired.

- So it is true spiritually, before there can be a renewing, a repenting, or a revival …. There has to be self examination of our hearts to see where we are. To see what are greatest love is. To see what has drawn our affections away from God and the things of God. It is only then that we can turn from our current path. Only then can we repent or turn from our path.

now as God gives promises to those who choose to follow His principals. To those who humble themselves, who turn from their ways and pursue after God.

IV. God Gives promises (v.14-15)

We look at the next word to key in on. “THEN” . God makes a promise to do something ....... after the people fulfill there responsibilities. The promises of God here are conditional on the decisions of the people.

A. God Promises to hear our prayers

the promise here is the very thing that Solomon prayed for. That the temple would be a place where the people could come and pray and confess their sins in times of trouble, in times of drought and famines.

and God’s promise here is that as His people turn from their ways and pray and confess ...... God will open His ears from Heaven and will hear… God promises not only to hear our prayers but to answer them.... specifically our prayers of confession, it says that God will forgive …

Jeremiah 29:12 NKJV

Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

Psalm 145:18 NKJV

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.

1 John 5:14 NKJV

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

this is a beautiful promise that you and i can hold onto. God promises to lean into you and i as we pray and seek Him. To know that the creator of the universe hears your cries.

Not Praying

what is unfortunate is the fact that we can have such access and such promises to the ear of God and to know that so often ..... we miss out on the opportunity to speak to God.

F.B Myers

“The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer”

E.M Bounds

“ Prayer should not be regarded as a duty which must be performed, but rather as a privilege to be enjoyed, a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty “.

B. God Promises to Heal our Land

Now think about what implications this would have on the day to day life of the people. For the people the wellness of the land would mean produce of fruit, it would mean a healthy economy, it would mean their livestock would be healthy, it would mean they would mean an inheritance or legacy being passed on.

to have a land that you and your family depended on be in disrepair and to do nothing about it would be neglectful.

The word HEAL - means to … to cure disease or wounds and to restore to soundness or to the state of body in which the natural functions are regularly performed.

i want us to think about our lives. What needs healing in our lives? Our hearts, our marriages, our family..... etc..

What has been exposed to the disease of sin, what needs to be restored to the natural function it was created for?

The wellness of our hearts will have a huge implication on the condition of our home, it will determine what legacy we will leave behind, it will determine the amount of fruit and life that is produced from our lives.

the promise is that God sees the brokeness, he sees your needs and He is waiting for us to call out to Him to see healing be brought into our land.

Jeremiah 30:17 NKJV

For I will restore health to you And heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord, ‘Because they called you an outcast saying: “This is Zion; No one seeks her.” ’

we finish off by looking at v.15

2 Chronicles 7:15 NKJV

Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.