"When" vs. "If" I Sin

2 Chronicles 6:36,38; 7:14


"When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to a land far off or near,
if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which You have given to their fathers and the city which You have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Your name,


... then I will hear from heaven ...

*
Solomon's prayer to God for his people points out the reality of our human
condition that it's a matter of time before
we sin -- "when". Contrastly, responding correctly out of our sin
depends on our willingness to return to Him -- "if".

Solomon lifted up this prayer of recognizing how wicked we are, but God's
grace and mercy is much greater than that. This was a humble prayer behalf
of his own people. And as he dedicated the temple (house of God), he wanted
his people to be healed and restored back to God through this temple.

God honored such a prayer and said in 7:14 -- then I will hear from heaven. Lord, I sincerely desire to lift up such a
prayer to you from the bottom of my heart as well, and to hear you saying
to me "I will hear from heaven...."