If you've been in church for any length of time, you'll see this verse trotted out and preached on or plastered on social media.
"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 I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
When it's preached, they mean the country they live in. “If we can get these dang Americans to repent, we'll be okay. Make America Great Again.”
This verse is not for us.
Look here, God tells Solomon:
"I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 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 I will hear from heaven, and I 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 have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
"As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.'
"But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, 'Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?' People will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.'"
2 Chronicles 7:12-22
This passage is for Israel. But could the argument be made that it applies to the worldwide church?
I don't think so; this is the Old Covenant God made with Moses. I think for us, it's a two-fold lesson:
God keeps His promises and isn't to be trifled with. Israel went into exile with the Assyrians and Babylonians, and finally when Rome burned Jerusalem. They didn't fully come back until 1948.
This is also a lesson in repentance. Christians are His people, but not our countries. If we humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways, He will hear from heaven and forgive our sins.
That's how this passage is rightfully applied.
Of course you're right, Vance. People feel free to claim this as a promise for America, but ignore the mention of the temple, Solomon's father, uprooting Israel, and the rest. It's fodder for a master class on how NOT to interpret Scripture!