"Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD," 2 Chronicles 34:27.

(A message preached at the annual Free Presbyterian Ministers' Week of Prayer, Wednesday 8th January 1986 and then preached in Kilskeery FPC on the following Lord's Day by Rev Ivan Foster)

The Lord expects His people to react to the sin in the nation. It must not be a matter of indifference to us.

Furthermore, the reaction the Lord is looking for is that which He found in Josiah when he heard of the true spiritual state of his kingdom. Josiah's reaction is set for in our text.

Hear what the Lord said to him: " . . . . when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me . . . . "

That should be our reaction to the state of Ulster today.