God's Prescription

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7: 14)

This is a prescription for what ails many people. People are infected with cancerous pride, with a self seeking egoism, with an addiction to sin. A consequence of this malady is a sick land, an unhealthy social environment, an epidemic of evil.

What the people should do: 1) Humble themselves, and 2) Pray, and 3) Seek the face of God, and 4) Repent and turn away from their sins. This indicates that the reasons for the deplorable state of sinners is due to their pride of heart, lack of real prayer, failure to seek the Lord, and for continuance in their sins and refusal to turn away from them in repentance.

Man's sickness is no mean or ordinary disease. Spiritually and morally, sinners are very sick.

"The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment." (Isaiah 1: 3-6)

Sinners are sick morally and spiritually. They are also beaten down with the inflictions of God's discipline upon them. God has been whipping them. But, they have not been corrected, so incorrigible they are!

"Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!" (Jeremiah 14: 19)

Sinners ask themselves these questions all the time, throughout their lives. When the consequences of sin and guilt come in full force, these complaints can be heard from the mouths of sinners. Why Lord? And, the answer back to the sinner is always the same - "it is the result of your sin and your refusal to turn from your sins and obtain remedy from the hand of the Lord."

And the sinner wants a way to be healed without having to quit doing the thing that caused the illness. He wants a medicine that can heal him of the awful consequences of sin but will allow him to keep on sinning. He wants a medicine at hand when he sins, not a medicine or therapy that will keep him from sinning, however, but one that will annul the consequences.

"There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines." (30: 13)

Yes, the Lord has the medicine they need. But, they have refused his remedy and prescription and have sought out their own remedies of healing and methods of deliverance. Sinners want to deal with the symptoms of their sins, not with the cause of the sins, their evil heart. God's remedy deals with the root cause, with the evil heart and mind.

"But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings." (Malachi 4: 2)

"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." (Acts 3: 19)

There is healing for sinners. Praise God! But, the medicine God provides will fully cure, not only the symptoms and consequences, but of the cause of it all, the evil heart and a corrupt soul. In being "converted" by the Lord, one is given a "new heart," a radical surgery. Are you in faith ready to put your life into the hand of the Great Physician, to go through his "operation," and receive you new life? Then, ask the Lord to humble you, to cause you to seek his face, and make you turn from your wicked ways. You cannot do it without his power and grace. He will give it to those who ask it of him.