“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
Memory of the Month: Psalm 33:4
4 For the word of the Lord is right and true;
he is faithful in all he does.
Today's reading: JEREMIAH 46-47 HEBREWS 6
Stay Off The Ground
King David had sinned with Bathsheba; he had had her husband left in a place of certain death; Bathsheba gave birth to the result of their sin-a baby boy-and the child died.
2 Samuel 12:20 ►Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.
King David:
...Got up off the ground and washed himself(for today, this is our symbol for crawling up out of the sin of self-pity and confessing)
....He went into the house of the Lord and worshipped
...Then, he went home and ate-he had refused food as long as the child was lingering(He resumed life)
In short, this pattern is always the same in God's design. We must get up from the 'earth', confess and worship, and continue living.
When we are experiencing the hardest of times, what do we have to confess?
In 2 Samuel 12, the prophet Nathan told David: 14 "But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”
The scripture then says:
16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground."
King David was hoping he could change God's mind. His hope was against God's truth. God had said, "The child will die."
Any of us would have done the same thing. We try to bargain with God. We try to change God's mind. We straddle that barbed-wire fence and try to pull away without tearing the fabric-doing it that way always ends badly, trust me.
That's what God says to us, "Trust me, I know best."
The fact is, crossing a fence like that is never advisable-enter through the 'gate'. The fence we want to cross is either a trespass or the gate is just too far...either case the result is the same. I do know that people get good at crossing those fences and after a while, it is just common practice. Common practice is not God's way-God is not common.
There is the problem. We get to a point where we think of being with God-worshipping God-confession-is as common as eating a meal or filling the car up. This is the biggest reason why we, like King David, have to start with getting up off the earth before anything else.
When tragedy strikes, we are hardly ever prepared because our hearts are not focused on the one true God. Already on the ground-involved in the enemy's earth-we must find our way up. But we want to argue with God in anger or place blame or justify our actions-why we are where we are-
David had to make a decision to get up. He could have been there for days wallowing in his grief, but he got up. The Bible says he washed himself, applied lotions and such, and went to God's house to worship and then went home and ate. He was not frantic nor in a hurry so as to miss something. David knew what to do and how to prepare for worship but it all came at such a price.
You may never be caught up in a horrible sin as David was but-are you on the ground arguing with God for something you know you cannot convince Him to do? Are you caught up on some fence you have crossed so many times that the owner stretched the fence and it is higher than ever? That is what the enemy does-one lie on top of the other.
Tragedy is hard enough-why must we make it harder?
Yes, there are times when we pray and see God's hands move. I am addressing the times when we know we are right so it 'must' be God's will...we have not asked but we know...
Or, we know we were wrong 'but God can change it...'
The results of our sin may last a lifetime. The results of God's grace lasts forever. His desire is for us to be conscious of His grace-His Holy Spirit-every minute so that when disaster strikes we do not have to get up from the earth-we do not have to wash ourselves(confess) before we start to cry out to Him in worship. We are in that place already.
Yes, God did hear David in worship. The point is we have this recorded in the Bible so we can learn to be prepared for tragedy because we have learned from God how to stay clean before Him.
Stay off the ground...
...because He loves us...
Father in Heaven,
My focus is so weak. Forgive my lethargy. Have mercy on me and grow me stronger,
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