Deus Misereatur

{Audio File is here } Revival and Reformation Pt 13 2 Chronicles 7:11-16. Here we are, Lord God, listening to your Scriptures read and expounded. Come and warm our hearts to happily embrace what you say to us. Amen. There are seasons in our personal lives, or in the life of our families, but also in the life of a congregation or a denomination that feels like we’re wandering through a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. There are various causes for this – from extremely serious to simply falling into a slump. How does one get out of this slough of despond? I think there’s something here in this passage that God is saying a thing or two to each of us. ______ 1.  The Problem of Pain: V. 13 – C.S. Lewis once wrote: “ God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world ” (from “ The Problem of Pain ” ) . And so: “ The conditions of 2 Chron. 7:13 imply that when national disaste...

(Morning): There is no god in heaven above or earth beneath that humankind can fashion, concoct or construct, like you. You keep faith with your people, hear them when they call out to you, rescue them from the evil one, and give them strength and endurance beyond their normal capacities. Great are you O Lord, and majestic is your name! Father, as priests serving in your Temple, we intercede on behalf of those who are finding life a hard row to hoe…; those whose marriages are strenuous and maybe cracking under the strain…; those whose bodies need to be healed and helped…; those who have recently given birth or are pregnant now…; those who feel fruitless, futile and forlorn…; Have mercy on them, lift up their faces that they may know your compassionate kindness, strengthen what is weak and wobbly, and fill them with undying hope. Lord God, look on our congregation – your congregation. Fortify the faithful; firm up the faint; encourage the down hearted; reclaim the wayward; ...