Tomorrow will mark the 58th annual observance of the National Day of Prayer. All over this nation, believers will gather in groups large and small to pray together.
And God will hear.
But if I were God... I would have stopped listening to America's prayers long ago. I would chastise the American Church for our hypocrisy, lambasting tomorrow's gatherings as little more than a momentary "cease fire" from our business-as-usual culture of self-promotion, segregation and materialism.
I am so thankful that God is nothing like me. His mercy is "new every morning," even tomorrow morning. Indeed, He is a "do-over" God. And my ranting above is evidence enough of how badly I am in need of a fresh start. How 'bout you?
The following Scripture is often quoted at National Day of Prayer gatherings...
..."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 will forgive their sin and heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)
If one studies the context of this promise to Solomon (chapters 6 and 7), it is full of warnings and conditions... but at the end of the day, it is full of mercy... because "if My people" means just that.
So I'm gonna repent from any residue of self-righteousness that makes it waaaay too easy for me to pen an "if I were God" paragraph, and I'm gonna join together with scores of other believers across the country tomorrow, pressing into God's unfathomable "if My people" mercy.
