After losing their harvest for seven successive years, the Israelites were on the verge of starvation. In this desperate plight they remembered God’s help in decades past and called upon Him for assistance. Although they had grievously neglected God and refused to call upon Him until driven to do so by extremity, God still heard their cries. This shows how ready God is to forgive and how inclined He is to hear prayer. Such mercy on God’s part should be a great encouragement for sinners to repent and turn to Him.

In all these circumstances the distinction should be borne in mind between God’s dealings with the nation of Israel and His relationship to the individual Israelite. National calamity and judgment did not mean the rejection of the individuals comprising the nation. The guilt that brought the disaster rested upon the individual Israelite only in so far as he personally had been a participant in the apostasy. Despite national rejection, the door of mercy stood as wide open for personal salvation as before. Many, no doubt, found their God during these perilous times, and their individual acceptance was in nowise dependent upon the restoration of the nation to divine favor. In other words, the relationship of a nation to God is a matter quite distinct from the personal relationship of the individual citizen to his God, except in so far as God’s attitude toward the nation may be determined by the number of individuals in the nation who are seeking to follow out the divine program.