Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).

This verse is often cited as a promise of God to America. It is not. It is God's covenant promise to Solomon at his dedication of the Temple of the LORD. The "my people" are not Americans but the people of Israel, who were in covenant with God through the patriarch Abraham. The promise to "restore their land" or "heal their land" is not referring to the American continent but to the land of Promise, the land of Canaan, which God promised to give them through His covenant with Abraham. It is clear from the immediate context, where God says, "I have chosen this Temple" (2 Chronicles 7:12 and 16), that prayers toward Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem was what God was blessing. 

How is it, then, that preachers so easily cite this passage as both a command and a promise for America? Loose hermeneutics (i.e. slippery interpretation). Broad application. It tickles the ear (i.e. the verse sounds good to say). 

All a preacher has to say is just as God blessed the obedience of Israel at the dedication of Solomon's Temple, God will bless us, because He always blesses obedience. While it is right to claim the universal promise of God to bless those who trust and obey Him, it is wrong to claim a specific promise of God to His people as if it were a promise made to us today. When we treat Biblical interpretation with a cavalier disregard for context, no wonder people so flippantly say, "That's just your interpretation" when challenged for mishandling Scripture. Yet, Scripture teaches, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).

Teachers and preachers of Scripture must take extra care in view of this warning: "Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly" (James 3:1).

We must be diligent to correctly handle God's Word!

"David the man of God" (2 Chronicles 8:14).

David was suceeded by his son Solomon. While the Chronicles only have a glowingly positive account of Solomon's reign, as David's, the latter years of Solomon's reign was tarnished by disobedience and idolatry (1 Kings 11). Following his death, apart from his reputation of wisdom, Solomon is never mentioned in Scripture in a positive light, as David frequently. is. 

David is called righteous, a man after God's own heart, a prophet, and a servant of God. He is the type of Christ. David's sins and repentance are clearly documented; however, Solomon's are not. We can only speculate that Ecclesiastes was written after his disobedience and idolatry, such that he returned to the Lord. There were not many kings that both began and ended well. Often pride and the intimate influence of evil counsel led many good leaders astray. 

These are given as examples for us, so that we might not let down our guard in our pursuit of holiness. And even when we do, that we would be like David, and quickly repent and return to the Lord. By God's grace we will not be defined by our moral failures but by our unflagging devotion to the Lord. 

But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples (2 Chronicles 7:19-20).

The LORD said that He would bless Solomon if he obeyed Him and would fulfill His promise to David to establish his ancestral throne forever. But if Solomon turned away from the LORD by disobeying His laws and worshipping other gods, then God would uproot him from the Promised Land of Canaan and destroy the very temple he had built and consecrated.

God's covenant with Solomon was a very straight-forward one. Obey God and be blessed. Disobey God and be destroyed. Of course, we know the outcome. He disobeyed God by marrying Canaanite women and indulging their idolatry. God punished him by dividing the kingdom. Eventually, both the northern and southern kingdoms would be judged as well, as a consequence of their ever-deepening disobedience and rebellion. Then there would be for a long period of time no one on the throne of Israel. 

Did God break His covenant with David? Did God not promise, "You shall never lack a man to be ruler in Israel"? (2 Chronicles 7:18) Consider David's communication of this promise to David:

If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel (1 Kings 2:4).

Notice God's promise was not unconditional but conditioned on obedience. This same conditional promise was repeated to Solomon:

As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel’ (2 Chronicles 7:17-18).

So then why do theologians and pastors keep calling the Davidic Covenant "unconditional"? It is probably not the best term to use, but perhaps they ought to be forgiven because they are using the language passed on to them by their teachers before them. Just about every commentary I have read and every professor I have had in seminary also called the Davidic covenant "unconditional".

It is not unconditional. Israel's history should be evidence enough. Even today, there is still no Davidic ruler in Israel.

Yet, we have this promise:

Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever’” (2 Samuel 7:16). 

This appears at the tail end of the Davidic covenant. Unless we redefine "forever" to mean something other than "time without end" or we are willing to say that God broke His promise to David in the time after the Babylonian Captivity reaching down through history to our day, we must understand that there can be a discontinuity to this covenant and that there may yet be a day when the covenant will find eternal fulfillment.

This is how the ancient Jews understood the Davidic Covenant, and this is how orthodox Christians understand it as well. We believe Jesus, the son of David (Matthew 1:1; Luke 1:32-33) will fulfill the Davidic Covenant. But rather than seeing the Davidic Covenant as "unconditional," it would be more accurate to see it as radically conditional, such that only Jesus the Messiah could and would fulfill the conditions for an eternal rule. So we have this prophecy of the Messiah by Jeremiah:

"The days are coming," declares the Lord,
    "when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
    and do what is just and right in the land.
In his days Judah will be saved
    and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
    The Lord Our Righteous Savior" (Jeremiah 23:5-6).

Jeremiah declared the failure of "the shepherds" over God's people up to the time of the Babylonian Captivity. He prophesied that God would raise up "a righteous Branch" of the line of David, who would "reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land." Isaiah's prophecy of the Messiah is even more magnificent:

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
    will accomplish this (Isaiah 9:6-7).

God would accomplish what the merely human descendants of David failed to accomplish. It would be in the incarnation, God in the flesh, that the eternal throne would come. 

As yet, the promise is still unfulfilled, for Jesus is not yet King over Israel. So when will the eternal promise of the Davidic Covenant be fulfilled? We find this from the Book of Revelation:

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike downthe nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords (Revelation 19:11-16).

I believe this refers to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, who would come from heaven to reign on the earth as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And who are the "armies of heaven" "dressed in fine linen, white and clean"? I believe that represents believers. We will come with Christ when He comes to establish His throne on earth. Praise God!

He said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no god like You in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart..." (1 Chronicles 6:14).

It is hard to read these words of devotion from Solomon and then read the account of Solomon's latter years in 1 Kings 11:1-13: 

As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been (1 Kings 11:4). 

As commentators have pointed out, Solomon's idolatry was likely not an outright rejection of the LORD but rather an acceptance of foreign gods along with the LORD:

On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods (1 Kings 11:7-8).

While he built altars for foreign gods, he did not tear down or replace the altar to the LORD. Thus, we read that Solomon's heart was not "fully" devoted to the LORD:

His heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been (1 Kings 11:4).

 He did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done (1 Kings 11:6).

Nevertheless, the LORD considered this acceptance of other gods a violation of His command and a turning away from the LORD: 

The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command (1 Kings 11:9-10).

Friends, as hard as it might be to imagine, that a man of Solomon's wisdom and devotion could turn away from God, it is not so difficult to grasp.

Consider one example. Today, how many of us have friends and even family members, who are openly gay. We know that God condemns the homosexual lifestyle (cf. Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Romans 1:26-28), yet because many homosexuls seem "normal" in every other way and some are our friends or family, there is pressure to accept their lifestyle. And a lot of this pressure is from so-called Christians. Yet, little do they consider that to embrace what God condemns is also a turning away from the LORD. Thus we read,

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God (James 4:4).

What is appalling is that some Christians will attack other Christians for taking a stand against homosexuality, as if declaring what the Bible clearly declares sin is now somehow wrong. Just because something is done between consenting adults in the privacy of their home does not make it right. Adultery is not right. Promiscuity is not right. And homosexuality is not right. Yet, the commercial, social, and even legal pressure to accept this sinful behavior is what is amazing to me.

Solomon, having neglected God's command not to marry Canaanite women, was already on a slippery slope toward embracing idolatry:

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love (1 Kings 11:1-2).

Like those who pressure Christians to accept homosexualty, I imagine Solomon felt pressure from his wives to embrace their gods. They probably told him that he did not have to personally worship their gods but a least he could set up altars so that his wives could freely worship them. The same clamoring for accomodation can be heard by homosexuals, who insist on changing the age-old definition of marriage to accomodate their male-male/female-female unions. When Christians should be condemning the homosexual lifestyle, they are pushed more and more to accept it. 

Friends, have we allowed cultural, social and even religious pressure to cause us to compromise our faith and undivided devotion to the LORD?

I gave homosexuality as an example, for it is so prominent in the news these days, but I could bring up our accomodation of materialism and widespread lawsuits as well. 

Today, it is not enough to speak of going "back to the Bible, for there are self-proclaimed prophets who use the Bible in a cavalier manner, taking texts out of context and proof-texting Scripture to support all manner of twisted doctrines and unbiblical practices.

But there is no other remedy for the moral and spiritual decay that we see all around us. We must go to God's Word. Yet, let us read it unfiltered by the commentaries of those that would try to distort its message. Let us read it for ourselves. Let us allow Scripture to interpret Scripture rather than bringing foreign experiences and human opinions to cloud our understanding. 

This has been my primary objective for this website, that everyone would learn to read the Bible for themselves. No commentaries necessary. No degrees necessary. No pastoral oversight necessary. Just read, and read again, and again. It is my conviction that God will bring a right understanding to those that seek Him diligently in His Word.

My son, if you accept my words
    and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to understanding—
indeed, if you call out for insight
    and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God (Proverbs 2:1-5).

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him (1 John 2:27).

2nd chronicles chapter 7

Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished.¹² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. ¹³ When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, ¹⁴ if my people who are called by my name 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. ¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

God still has this kind of attitude for us on this side of the cross. If we humble ourselves and turn to face him we will find he is meeting us face to face:

James 4

 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you

Also, in 2 Chronicles 7:

“But if you^[l] turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

The same idea is echoed in the book of James 4

⁴ You adulterous people!^[l] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? ⁶ But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

We are saved by Grace. We are matured by the 7 spirits of God (liberty taken on this meaning; cf Isaiah 11:2), we will be at times working against the Lord, those whom he has claimed will not be lost to him, but through struggles we will be refined and sanctified. Many blessings of redemption, salvation, hope, and satisfaction require a debt, oppression, despair, and want in order for the blessing to be manifest – Glory to God, that we are not left alone to develop into perfection, but by his counsel, we are used against our own flesh to become holy citizens of his kingdom; members of his household.

2 Chronicles 7

Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished.¹² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. ¹³ When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, ¹⁴ if my people who are called by my name 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. ¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

How the Lord operates across time, the dispensation of his works, is in a constant flux. God created (one kind of operating style), God worked with one for one individual in Abraham and those before him (another kind of style), then through Moses and Aaron he manifest himself in overtly public and sensational ways (another kind of style), then through religious orders (another), then through military conquests and nation building (another), then through judges and prophets, then periods of little to no visions or prophetic words such as in Samuel’s youth – but his nature, his influence, his spirit always permeates history.

Even during the structure of religious order and protocols for cleanness, there is mercy and grace.

Deuteronomy 23:3 No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the temple… even to the tenth generation

Yet we have Rahab then Ruth then David and then Jesus.

Leviticus 24:9 only Aaron and his sons are to eat the most holy part of their food offerings

Yet David eats in 1 Samuel 21:4

Throughout scriptures we see God’s mercy and grace given to the council of his will. Our Father is always willing to hear the humble cries of his chosen ones. No matter their past, he has called you blessed and holy; there is no condemnation for those in Christ (Romans 8:1).

But God is not a compulsory God. If you turn from him he will let you go into the mire you choose, like the father of the prodigal son of Luke 15. If you insist on a path, the Lord will ‘second’ your intended way just as we see Jesus did with the disciple that wanted to go bury his father (Matthew 8) just as the Lord did every time Israel, David, Solomon, all the kings walked into sin and some shameful decision.

Your ‘answered’ prayer for something foolish, was answered in the way the father answered the prodigal son, the disciple, the kings; the lord already and continues to speak through his word what should be done, but to continue to ask for something contrary and not in ‘but thy will be done’ will take you down your chosen path.

But God is always there waiting for you to return. When you turn you will find him already running towards you with his best robe and his ring in his hand.

God works all things for the good of those who love him. He directs the desires of your heart, directing your decisions, he will give you a way out and back to him (1 Corinthians 10:13).

But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples (2 Chronicles 7:19-20).

Every one of these "if"s carry the force of "when." Throughout Israel's rebellious history, it should have been a foregone conclusion that they would sooner or later forsake the LORD. While the Old Testament is a witness to God's unfailing faithfulness and goodness, it is also a testament to man's unceasing rebellion and sin. 

Therefore, friends, let us always approach the LORD with humility and fear. Let our presumption not be that we will obey Him but that we will disobey Him; therefore, our confidence will never be on our own ability but on Christ's sacrifice, never on any goodness in us but simply on God's mercy and grace. Isn't this the message of Hebrews 4:15-16?

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Solomon, the wisest man in the world, sinned against the LORD. To say that we can do better is simply foolish presumption and pride. I know that I am not anywhere so wise as Solomon, but I trust in Christ, who is my wisdom, righteousness, holiness and redemption. Paul wrote,

Because of God you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God. In Christ we are put right with God, and have been made holy, and have been set free from sin (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT)

Does this verse sound familiar? It is often preached, and it is used as the central verse for numerous conferences and revivals. It is a wonderful promise by God to forgive His people of their sins and restore prosperity to the land when they humble themselves in prayer and repentance.

Is this a promise that we can claim for ourselves? No! It was given to the people of Israel in keeping with God's covenant with them in the Law of Moses, wherby, if they obeyed that law, they would be prosperous, and if they disobeyed, they would be cursed. The immediate context of the passage also bears this out:

At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place. For I have chosen this Temple and set it apart to be holy—a place where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart. (2 Chronicles 7:13-16 NLT)

Notice that the response of humility, prayer and repentance is to God's judgment on the land (i.e. the Promised Land of Canaan) of drought, infestation and plagues in verse 13. And God's promise of forgiveness and restoration is based on His covenant (with its "commands, decrees and regulations" v. 19) and a specific promise with respect to the Temple in Jerusalem. So then, what right do we have to infuse ourselves into these promises, which were given specifically to Israel in regard to the land of Canaan and in keeping with a specific promise that stemmed from the Law of Moses? When we do this, we are no better than the prosperity theologians, who are known for their loose and irresponsible interpretation of Scripture. 

Those that use this verse in this unbiblical way do not apply to themselves the rest of the context:

“But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the decrees and commands I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, then I will uproot the people from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make it an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled. They will ask, ‘Why did the LORD do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’ “And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them. That is why he has brought all these disasters on them.’” (2 Chronicles 7:19-22 NLT)

What if the people do not humble themselves, pray and repent of their wicked ways? God will exile them from the land. So, does this mean that the unrepentant will be sent off to China? God will reject the Temple. The Temple was physically destroyed in Israel. Does this mean that church buildings will be bulldozed? What is more, God punished with military invasion, plagues, drought, and famine. People even resorted to canabalism. Should we expect these things as well? If we are going to be totally consistent with applying 2 Chronicles 7:14 to ourselves, we better be ready to also apply 2 Chronicles 7:19ff as well. 

This is exactly Paul's point in Galatians when addressing the Judaizers that were falsely teaching believers that they were still under the Law of Moses:

All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” (Galatians 3:10 TNIV)

Paul is saying that you are free to put yourselves back under the Law of Moses, from which you have been delivered by Christ, but understand that when you do so, you also put yourselves under the curse of the Law. For if you put yourself back under the Law, you nullify grace:

I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21 TNIV)

Therefore, friends, be wary of what you hear from speakers and preachers, for being one myself, I know how easily we might think we are "led by the Spirit" when we are more led by our own desire to excite interest in those that hear us. I unfortunately know the mind of some seminarians and pastors, because I was one, and they are all too often led by their sinful natures to search for something in the Scriptures "that will preach" rather than simply teaching the truth. Feeling pressure to provide an engaging thirty to forty minute message every Sunday, they want to be interesting and "relevant." Rather than being responsible to the Scriptures and to God, they are often more concerned about how they might sound or how their message might be received. When they are burdened, they think it is the burden of God on behalf of the people, when it is simply their burden of maintaining their own image, interest, and authority.

It is not simply that ministers are just as sinful and susceptible as members, but the whole convention of "doing church" perpetuates the problem, what with the time constraints to messages, the necessity of multimedia presentations in large air-conditioned buildings, salaries for all "full-time" ministers, and a weekly preaching and teaching ritual that lulls people into spiritual and apathetic routine and ritual rather than genuine Christ-like surrender. 

Friends, I don't have a comprehensive answer to the current "matrix" of church convention in which we live. But I do know that the answer is found in the Word of God. Therefore, I encourage everyone that claims to know Christ to take personal responsibility and read carefully, study diligently, meditate deeply, and apply rightly this Book among all books, by which we have discovered the true life and by which we can truly live:

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15 TNIV)

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16, 17 TNIV)

If only I were there with the Israelites! It was a great achievement of Solomon but he humbled himself before the Lord, saying,

 “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hands has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David. For he said, ⁵ ‘Since the day I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, nor have I chosen anyone to be ruler over my people Israel. ⁶ But now I have chosen Jerusalem for my Name to be there, and I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.’

 He ascribed all the credits to the Lord before the whole congregation of Israel unlike other kings who raised themselves up. Even though it is true that we are the ones who plan, perspire, spend sleepless night, and struggle for any God-given task, it is God who accomplishes His will in us. He is the source of our strength, the very reason for our existence, just as the psalmist says in Psalm 127:1,

 "..Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain."

 Let us reflect on who we were, the objects of His wrath, and remember that He is the one who sought after us and that we were found by Him. He is great and mighty God not only because He can grant us miracles but more importantly because He came to us even thought we have nothing good in us. That separates us from people who have a unequal zeal for their man-made deities. Miracles and wonders can be copied and Matt 24:24 warns us that false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible. Let us keep reading His Word every day just as he craves for our physical food.