God said, "Yes!"


At the dedication of King Solomon's Temple there's a dramatic occurrence when the King walks up on a platform before thousands of people, and in all his royal apparel gets down on his knees, reaches up to heaven, and prays. You can't picture 700 wife/300 concubine Solomon who has been led astray from his faith. That guy doesn't exist yet. This is young dedicated Solomon. (There's another lesson there entirely, but we'll save it for another day). 
In a position of intercession the King prays. To summarize his prayer he prays, "Lord, we're doing pretty good right now. But if that ever changes and we turn away from you as a nation and totally blow it, and as a result you let other countries come in and take us captive in judgment, if from our far off lands of exile we turn to this temple and pray will you forgive us and restore us?"
It's a great prayer. Afterwards they have a 7 day celebration and on the 8th day Solomon sends everyone home. I had church the last 3 days in a row and I'm tired so I'm sure he must have been beat. He goes to bed, but his sleep is interrupted. God wakes him up during the night and tells him, "I heard your prayer." He then goes on to give him a promise that is one of the more well known passages of Scripture.
"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." II Chronicles 7:14.

God said, "Yes!"

Fast forward with me several centuries later and we find a man named Daniel living in exile in a foreign land because his nation has turned from God, and God has used the Babylonians to judge the Israelites. Some jealous colleagues trick their gullible king into passing a law that no one can pray to anyone but him for 30 days. What does Daniel do? He goes home, opens the window, gets on his knees facing Jerusalem and he prays. He has too. He knows God said, yes. It doesn't matter what the king said. God said it. 
Our nation needs healing. We have sinned as well, and America is our land of exile. May God raise us up as intercessors in our generation with the same resolve that Daniel had in his. Pray for America. Pray for healing. Stand in the gap and ask for grace. As you do remember, God said, "Yes." 
"Heal our land, Lord! Heal our land!"

Following the Son,
James A Williams

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