Well, it would be nice if it really was that easy. Maybe simple is a better word? Either way, the Lord seemed to lay it out for his people in this passage:
7:14 If my people, who are called by name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
I wouldn’t necessarily limit this to the backslidden and those needing to return to the Lord. Anyone who is interested in a close relationship with God may want to note the Lord’s words to Solomon in this passage. Clearly four requirements for enjoying closeness with the Lord are presented here. And they do seem progressive, building upon each other. Don’t they?
1. Humble myself: Few conditions so effectively prevent people from seeing God as pride. Consider the Pharisees who, blinded by pride, totally missed God when he was right before their eyes! Without humility, we can’t even begin to draw close to God. Humility seems like a great starting point!
2. Pray: Once humility is found, interactive conversations with God become possible, even enjoyable! But no matter how humble I become, without prayer I simply can’t go any further in my attempts to draw close to God. Studying the bible, going to church, etc. will not bring my heart closer to God if a prayer life is nonexistent.
3. Seek God’s face: The next “step” involves far more than just a perfunctory daily bible reading. Seeking the face of God represents a sincere desire to know God and learn what triggers his emotions. Think about it—what do we use to express emotion nonverbally more than our face? To care this deeply about God’s feelings, I must already be in conversation with him, having already humbled myself and exalted God in my life.
4. Turn from my wicked ways: How often I’ve tried, but failed, to break sin’s grip in my life, by my own strength!!! Looking back now, it seems what was clearly lacking was (1) real humility, (2) fervent prayer, and (3) relentless efforts to get to know God’s face. Only with these first three steps in place have I managed to make any real headway in holiness.
So if these really are progressive steps, success in #4 implies success in the first three. And in my opinion, success in #4 marks a truly mature believer in Christ!
To conclude with the scripture verse, God said that by doing these four things, God would bless his people both spiritually (he would hear and forgive) as well as physically (heal the land). The benefits of drawing close to God really are quite impressive! And the steps to this closeness, if you want to call them steps, really aren’t that complicated. Rather than requiring increasing skill or knowledge, their success seems to rely on an increasing desire and intent, i.e. I must want to and choose to. Far be it for the God who “so loved the world” to make it exceedingly difficult for anyone to draw near him!
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