by Brad Boyles
The temptation of reading this promise from God is to universally apply it to national and personal situations. For instance, many believe that if we as a nation would repent, God would hear our plea and bless our nation. For others, the promise is more personal. If we come to God in repentance personally, He will bless us in that way. But, we must ask, is this the right interpretation?
One aspect of Israel that often fails to be considered is that their nation was God’s chosen nation. They were His people whom He made a special covenant with. There is no other nation on the planet who can claim this privilege. So, in context, we must understand that this promise was made to Israel in a very specific way. Even though we know that repentance is what God requires, we must caution ourselves from applying this truth as an “apples to apples” comparison today.
What about personally? Certainly, repentance is the beginning of receiving the grace offered to us. I agree wholeheartedly with this point, however, there is one glaring difference. Individual Christians have not been called as a nation. We have been called to be the church, which does look different. Again, personally speaking, when we repent, God does not heal everything about our lives. In fact, the early apostles would attest to the fact that when they followed after Christ, their lives actually became more chaotic!
The temptation personally is to apply this verse to mean that if we do good things that God wants us to do, then we will receive all His material blessings. We know this is simply not how Salvation through Jesus works. We are empowered to do great things after repentance and grace through faith. However, that does not mean health, wealth, and prosperity. The message of Christ is that we would die to ourselves so that He would make us holy. Often, that process can be painful. But, the spiritual blessings we receive are indescribable!
There is great truth we can take from this passage for today. Repentance is still what God longs for. His promises never fail. He is a loving God who extends grace at every turn and continues to draw us near. But, He is also a holy God who showed us how serious He was about that holiness when He placed His Son on a cross. This is what we must cling to.
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