Plague of the Heart
(This was the meditation I sent out in my weekly pastoral letter on Wednesday, 16 August 2023) There was something I didn’t have the time to point out last Sunday, and it’s related to what God will say in 2 Chronicles 7:12-13. Therefore, I want to point it out here so I can be specific and then not need to take the time to deal with it this coming Sunday. It has to do with one of the eight scenarios in Solomon’s prayer (2 Chronicles 6:20-39). It’s a wordplay (in the Hebrew) in 2 Chronicles 6:28-29, and it’s rather surprising. I’ll highlight the words so you can pick up what I’m referring to: [28] “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the land at their gates, whatever plague , whatever sickness there is, [29] whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this...