2 Chronicles 7:13-14 - Humility

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:13–14)

Not if there is no rain someday, but when. And when God sends locusts and pestilence. The days of humbling will come. The nation will decline in time, and God will act, in response to their sin, with drought and famine and disease, to make the people freshly desperate. And in those times, self-humbling will mean prayer — his people appealing to him for help. Humble yourselves and pray and seek my face and turn from your wicked ways.

In such moments, self-humbling requires turning from the path of pride that is leading to destruction, and turning to the face of God in prayer. And those who are most ready to hit their knees in desperate times will be those who have learned the habit of bowing even in the best of times. “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14–16)

Because we are so needy, what grace to learn that we can “be constant in prayer” (Romans 12:12). That God does not tire of our pleas or close his ears to us, but we can “continue steadfastly in prayer” (Colossians 4:2). That we need not “be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let [our] requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).

Not only do we have Christ interceding for us, but also his Spirit, who “helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). When we know our desperation, and the nearness of our Lord and his Helper, how can we not be among those who delight to be “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Ephesians 6:18)?

Don’t wait till God’s humbling hand descends. Walk the path today, on your knees. Mark now the trail to heaven. Learn to look Godward as a reflex, long before your great humbling comes. And when it does, under God, you’ll be ready.

Taken from Desiring God