2 Chronicles 6

2 Chronicles 6:28, “When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; (29) whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands to this temple: (30) then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hears of the sons of men)…

This is a prayer that Solomon spoke out loud in front of all the people of Israel after building the temple for the Lord. I found it interesting that Solomon said, “when there is famine…” Even though we have a good God, bad things still happen. Solomon knew this but he also knew where our hope and trust lies: in the Lord. The first thing Solomon asks God to do is hear our prayers and forgive (verse 30). It’s more important that we are forgiven than to have our struggles taken away from us. Jesus repeats this idea when he does his miracles in the New Testament because he always forgives sins before healing the physical body.

Anyway, the point is that bad things WILL happen, and Solomon knew that. So when people say, “If there is a God, why do bad things happen?” Well because not only is there a God who is perfect, there are humans who sin and so bad things happen. But, we can pray and put all our hope in the Lord and trust that God will bring us through whatever bad things happen.

I really like Solomon’s prayer because he doesn’t ask God to take away the plagues all-together and allow us to live in a utopia. He simply asks God to hear our prayers, forgive our sins, and get us through the hard times. So that’s what I’ll pray today. I know every one of us is going through our own struggles and we all have our own plagues so I pray that the Lord hears our prayers and forgives us. I pray that He brings us through the hard times. The Holy Spirit is our comforter and I pray that He comforts those of us who need it. In Jesus’ name I bring these prayers to the Lord, Amen.