Chapter 7 - God's Promise
God's Promise - Hear, Forgive, and Restore
The guide to the Shalom Effect is 2 Chronicles 7:14. It contains a requirement and a promise. You are now familiar with the requirement—the four elements of a man's position with God. Now we move to His three-part promise.
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)
Part 1 - I will hear from heaven
All of God's attention.
Can you imagine having all of God's loving attention?
Seriously, you—humbly surrendered, in His presence, seeking Him intently for the next step, willingly confessing and turning from any sin He may indicate! His promise is that you will have His full attention. He will hear from heaven.
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John knew it - "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us." 1 John 5:14
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Peter knew it - "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 1 Peter 3:12
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David knew it - "I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!" Psalm 66:17-20
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Jeremiah knew it - "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you." Jeremiah 29:12
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Isaiah knew it - "Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear." Isaiah 65:24
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Matthew knew it - "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8
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James knew it - "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." James 5:16
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Solomon knew it - "The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous." Proverbs 15:29
Those are first hand reports of a common experience of different men at varying times and circumstances, each of whom met the same qualifications. Each was convinced that he experienced the full attention of God.
Active Listening
The God-hearing described in this promise is reflected in "active listening," a therapeutic tool that emerged in psychological circles in the late 1950's. It is the intentional practice of fully concentrating on a speaker, understanding their message, and responding thoughtfully. It involves giving undivided attention, withholding judgment, reflecting back what is heard, and seeking clarification. Its therapeutic value lies in affirming that one is heard, allowing one to feel genuinely understood, not merely listened to.
Three core conditions are keys to its effectiveness:
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Empathy - deep accurate understanding of the speaker's feelings and meanings confirmed in the moment of engagement.
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Unconditional Positive Regard - acceptance and respect conveyed through listening without evaluation, diagnosing, or moral judgement.
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Genuineness - the listener's authenticity and emotional presence demonstrated by listening that is real, not formulaic.
Essentially, active listening is the intentional application of the other-focused love in Scripture—the "agapic" love of 1 Corinthians 13. God promises to actively hear the prayer of a man properly positioned with Him. To be heard by God in the context of His love is a powerful and transforming to experience. He listens to a man in position with focused attention and with depth of love that exceeds human ability to fully comprehend—Shalom.
Part 2 - I will forgive
Just as God's listening to a man in position is intentional and focused, so is His forgiveness.
The word used in 2 Chronicles describes God’s forgiveness of a man's sin/guilt, not just brushing it aside, but as granting pardon and restoring the full covenant relationship that was established with that man at the point of his belief, in an exercise of grace and divine prerogative. It is part of God's commitment to hear, forgive, and restore. So, “will forgive” means: God removes the sin-guilt that prompted judgment, so that restoration can follow.
It is important that a man understand the gravity of both the positional expectations and the promises of God. Do not treat this lightly. Understand that you are dealing with Holy God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that is, and His purpose for you. Thus, both the responsibilities expected of you and the gift of God's promise are of eternal significance and never to be trifled with.
He will hear a man from heaven, and He will forgive his sin. God's objective is to restore that man's heart.
Part 3 - I will restore
It Was About The Temple
To understand "restore the land," it is important to be mindful of the context in which the story of 2 Chronicles occurred.
The likely location was in the city of Jerusalem, Israel, atop Mt. Moriah in the newly completed worship center that came to be known as Solomon's Temple, approximately 960-950 BC. At that moment in history, Israel was at its political, economic, and territorial height. The Davidic monarchy was secure, the Temple had just been completed, and the territory under Solomon's rule was at peace.
The Temple was the place God chose to signify His nearness to the people of Israel. It was also the spiritual and physical heart of the covenant He established with Moses to safeguard the people. It was the place where sacrifices were offered to address sin and guilt, express thanksgiving, and foster communion. It also contained the Holy of Holies, a central vault that housed the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the law given to Moses and was reserved for the Chief Priest to mediate between God and Israel.
The land, like the Temple, is part of God's promise, a covenant relationship with the people. It must not be considered an incidental piece of real estate, but rather as the essential context of the spiritual welfare of Israel. The land is restored when the Temple is functioning as God intended: a place of repentance, prayer, sacrifice, and restored fellowship. So, the land is not healed apart from the Temple; it is healed through what happens there. The land and the Temple are spiritually inseparable.
It's still about the Temple.
We, however, live in 21st-century Western civilization. How, then, are you and I to interpret the relevance of this promise of restoration to our lives?
That answer rises from the positional conditions given to Solomon all those years ago: humble self, pray, seek God, turn from sin. God's response to those conditions is restoration focused on the Temple, ensuring its role as the nation's spiritual center and the land as the sanctified context for His dwelling place among people.
It is so for a man in Christ now. A core teaching of the New Testament is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God in the believer. The people of God, collectively and individually, are the residence of God, as was the temple. The heart of a man in position with God is the context of God's chosen habitation—Christ in us. "Restoration" is the God-empowered, Spirit-initiated act of great love that ensures the welfare of a man's heart for God—Shalom.
Lock on this—God in you
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Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
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Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
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What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 2 Corinthians 6:16
The concept of God's indwelling presence is a core part of the Christian experience. Before you continue, take time with these selections from the Bible. Lock on to this essential part of who you are in Christ.
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In whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Ephesians 2:21-22
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You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5
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I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1
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By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 1 John 4:13
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Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John 14:23
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By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. 2 Timothy 1:14
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Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. 1 John 3:24
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To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27
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I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
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So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, Ephesians 3:17
The Heart of a Man - the Temple of God
God's promised restoration centers on the same subject as his hearing and his forgiveness—a man's heart.
The moment you believed, God took up residence in the place He created in you specifically for Himself—your heart. This is not about the physical pump in your chest. It is about the centeredness of your metaphysical self, the place God chooses to reside in you.
Poets and songwriters speak of the heart as the center of a person's thoughts and emotions, especially love, compassion, or loyalty. The Bible refers to the heart as the center of a man's spiritual-emotional-intellectual-moral activity.
"Man looks at the outward appearance," says Samuel, "but the lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7
"The king's heart is unsearchable to humankind." Proverbs 25:3
"but the Lord searches all hearts to reward all according to their conduct." Jeremiah 17:10
"In the time of judgment God will expose the hidden counsels of the heart." 1 Corinthians 4:5
Maybe it is easiest just to think of your heart as the Captain's chair in the control center of your life—the place where your spirit, your mind, and your will intersect. Like the Holy of Holies in the Temple, it is reserved for the Holy Spirit alone to mediate with God for your benefit. No person or thing other than He is allowed in that chair.
Consider the potential of God's hearing, forgiving, and restoration from His residence in that Captain's chair of your heart—His Spirit communicating clearly through your spirit, shaping your thoughts, and conforming your will to His purpose.
These are not distant theories of possibility. They are core Biblical instructions and governing realities that shape a man and prepare him for all that God has purposed for him. It is Shalom.
Ok...now click over to Chapter 8...
Mark Foley, Ph.D.
effectivesolutions.today