March 11, 2001

Monica,

If my people, who are called by my 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. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

I know you are familiar with the passage quoted above. Let me try to apply it differently than you might have thought about it. Monica and Rich are both counselors. I believe most counseling focuses on the wrong place.

Counseling a couple having marriage trouble, for example, most counselors have a book full of answers and suggestions. They teach how to communicate and on and on. I believe that the passage above outlines where people need to start. The married couple might as well forget about each other until they get the first part done.

They have to individually humble themselves. Forget the partner; this is an individual matter. A person has to pray. More than that, he has to seek God’s face. You know there are millions of Christians who have accepted Jesus inside themselves, accepted a free gift of eternal life, and have never seriously sought the face of God.

When he seeks the face of God, he is going to see things in himself that needs to be turned from. That is the next step. Then! Then God will hear. Then will he forgive. How does that help the situation you are counseling? The final then is the answer. God said, then will he heal their land. If the land we are talking about is their marriage, God says he will heal that in proper order. An individual must seek his face. Even if only one seeks God’s face, he can heal the marriage. He is God, however. After the individual seeks him and is fellowshipping with him, he does have the right to tell the person to let that spouse walk away.

Moses knew he was about to die, and he begged God to let him see his face. God said no one can see his face, but if he would let God cover his eyes till God passed by, then Moses could see God’s glory. No one can see the face of God and live. But we are supposed to seek his face, and we will then see his glory.

Counselors are trying to apply a Band-Aid instead of going for the real healing. The Band-Aid might be helpful, but, really, what good is the marriage held together with a Band-Aid. The person would be better off single and alone but seeing the glory of God.

I used marriage counseling as the example in this insight, but the truth applies to any problem. We need to teach people to call on God by the pattern in 2 Chronicles 7:14. When the individual is where God wants him spiritually, when God has revealed the things God wants that person to turn from, God will do the healing. You can absolutely guarantee that the person you counsel to do this will not be disappointed even if the healing is far different from what the individual thought it would be.

Love,

Dad