When you think about God, what comes to mind? How about His awesome power in creating the earth and the entire universe. Maybe you are drawn to His awareness of every occurrence in the world at the same time, or perhaps it is the comfort you receive knowing that God hears your prayers went millions of people are also in prayer with Him. Words cannot do justice in describing God. Our best attempts in characterizing God will fail. He is so awesome, powerful, holy, loving, all-knowing, the list goes on……….and on………and on. There are also not enough words, so I guess we will leave at that.
Have you ever thought of God’s emotions? Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (nlt) We know that we are emotional beings, some more than others. If we are made in God’s image, it stands to reason that God is an emotional God. If we can display emotion, God certainly can.
Have you ever been hurt by someone? Had your heart broken? Have you caused the hurt of someone and broken their heart? If your answer is yes to either circumstance, you know both how it feels when you were hurt and the effects your actions had on the one you hurt. Now comes the hard part. Have you ever hurt God? Our emotional God can also be hurt by our actions.
The Lord speaking through Ezekiel, concerning Judah, said, “Then when they are exiled among the nations, they will remember me. They will recognize how hurt I am by their unfaithful hearts and lustful eyes that long for their idols. Then at last they will hate themselves for all their detestable sins.” The Lord God was sending them into exile for 70 years for their sins against Him, sins that hurt Him deeply by turning to idols.
How many idols do we have in our own lives that are hurting God? We may have never thought about this quite this way before, but our sins against God does hurt Him. Our unfaithful hearts and lustful eyes towards our idols take us away from Him, and yes, He’s hurt. May we have faithful hearts, and our eyes be gazed on Him.
“The people responded, ‘In view of all this, we are making a solemn promise and putting it in writing. On this sealed document are the names of our leaders and Levites and priests.’ The document was ratified and sealed with the following names: The governor: Nehemiah son of Hacaliah, and also Zedekiah.” Nehemiah 9:38-10:1 NLT
The walls and gates around Jerusalem were completed, the enemies of the Jews have backed off, the city has been repopulated, worship was restored, and the festivals commanded by the Lord were taking place, but there was some unfinished business to take care of. The people were deeply convicted of their sin as we learned last week in chapter 8, but there was no formal acknowledgement and confession. Nehemiah chapter 9 opens with, “On October 31 the people assembled again, and this time they fasted and dressed in burlap and sprinkled dust on their heads.” (Neh.9:1 nlt) Christians at times resemble the Jews here in Nehemiah. We are convicted of sin but continue to go along without dealing with it or we just go through the motions hoping that feeling will go away. It needs to be dealt with, and the people of Israel understood this and the leaders to action in leading them.
The Levites led the reading of God’s Word for three hours followed by three hours of confessing their sins and worshiping God. Confession of sin is an act of worship to a holy God, praising Him, as we confess, for His forgiveness and restoring us as if we have never sinned. Coming before Him with the right attitude, humbling ourselves is a manner of worship. The Jews had fasted beforehand and covered themselves with dust dressing in burlap. They had shown their distress over their sin. We don’t need to go that far today, but that same attitude can and should be expressed through prayer and fasting.
The Jews separated themselves from all foreigners as they confessed their sins, which was a very hard thing to do. Some of these foreigners were heathen women which God had commanded not to intermingle with. They were now married to them and possibly had children. Sin has a way of complicating our lives in a way we never thought possible. There is an old saying, ‘Sin will take you further than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to be kept, and cost you more than you wanted to spend.’ Once entangled in sin, the only way out is complete confession and repentance to the Lord.
The Levites led a prayer to God on behalf of the people. (Neh.9:5-37) The prayer begins by acknowledging God’s greatness and majesty, a good place for us to start when we pray. They continued with reciting Israel’s history from the Abrahamic covenant to their time in Egypt and the wandering in the wilderness, through the conquest and settlement of the Promised Land, through the judges, the prophets, and up to the present situation. God’s on-going goodness to Israel is noted along with each time throughout history their fathers disobeyed and sinned against God and now the present generation has done the same.
The people were yearning for that same goodness God had shown to their father’s generation by responding, “In view of all this, we are making a solemn promise and putting it in writing.” (Neh.9:38a nlt) They were making an appeal for a new covenant agreeing to follow God’s Laws. The leaders, priests, and Levites signed the document, “On this sealed document are the names of our leaders and Levites and priests The document was ratified and sealed with the following names: The governor: Nehemiah son of Hacaliah, and also Zedekiah.” (Neh.9:38b 10:1 nlt) The godly leaders took the first step and put their names on the document of confession and promised repentance. It is sad, but some of them were also guilty of the same sins, but they led in a godly manner of confession and repentance before the people.
Godly leaders today can fall into sin as we are often reminded. Their true character will come to light even more so in how they respond to their downfall. Is there full confession and repentance or are there excuses and cover-ups that eventually cause them to disappear from the scene? Our pastors and spiritual leaders need our constant daily prayers. Satan does not rest but is continually scheming to bring them down.
The leaders in Jerusalem set an honest godly example for the people who “joined their leaders and bound themselves with an oath. They swore a curse on themselves if they failed to obey the Law of God as issued by his servant Moses. They solemnly promised to carefully follow all the commands, regulations, and decrees of the LORD our Lord.” (Neh.10:29 nlt) They agreed not to intermarry with non-Jewish people. They agreed to keep the Sabbath free from commercial activity, support the Sabbatical year, and to support the needs of the Temple.
The book of Nehemiah is filled with examples of godly leadership, all in which are applicable for our day, but as mentioned above some of them did fall. They led the people into sin by either ignoring the sins they had seen being committed or the people followed their lead. Either way, we need to remember we are all sinners. That is not a reason to excuse the sin or dismiss the sinner, but to pray for confession and repentance. May godly leaders continue to lead the way.
You possibly may have heard it said when Jesus rose from the dead, ‘the stone was rolled away not to let Jesus out, but to show the tomb was empty.’ Indeed, it was. Jesus rose in His new glorified body and had no need for a door to be opened for Him. Matthew tells us an angel descended amid a great earthquake and rolled away the stone, and just in time for Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, had just arrived at the tomb. The women were discussing along the way how would they move the stone away to anoint Jesus’ body which they had intended to do. (Mk.16:3) There was a barrier of a large stone between them and Jesus that needed to be moved. But as they arrived, the stone had rolled away.
Is there a stone in your life that needs to be rolled away that is creating a barrier between you and the Lord? Your busy work schedule is causing you to lose all interests in the things of God, the things of this world are winning the battle to be on top of your priority list, or perhaps it’s some besetting sin that is continually reoccurring that is the stone needing to be rolled away. So, what do you do?
Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, met Jesus on the road while running from the tomb. The stone had been rolled away and Jesus wasn’t in the tomb but stood before them alive. The stone has been rolled away to show you that Jesus has risen from the dead. He is alive, ready, willing, and able to forgive your stones of sin and break down that barrier by rolling those sins away and placing them under His blood to be remembered no more. Ask Jesus to place those sinful stones at the foot of His cross by confessing and repenting of them, and He will. The stone was rolled away for our benefit. Jesus is not dead, He’s our living savior ready to forgive.
“This is what the LORD says: ‘Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, No, that’s not the road we want!’” Jeremiah 6:16 NLT
Last week’s ‘Christian Perspective’ focused on the question ‘Is America Fixin’ to Fall,’ (1) Several self-incriminating examples were noted that if not done away with could very well do away with the United States. This week the main point in ‘A Christian Perspective’ is America is at the crossroads. America’s future will be decided in a few days after the results of the U.S. Presidential election is announced. The country could not be more divided, growing more hostile in what separates us. Any resemblance to truth has been thrown out in almost every political ad being replaced with statements taken out of context, exaggerations, and outright lies. Desperation is setting in not only for the candidates but also for those in both camps who see their defeat as an end to democracy as they see it. For clarification, ‘democracy’ is defined by Webster’s New World Dictionary as, “government by the people, directly or through representatives.”
Some of Jeremiah’s prophecies to Judah could have been spoken to ‘We the people’ of the United States. We looked at one last week and here is another from Jeremiah 6:16, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.’ But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’” (nlt) The Lord told Judah to ‘Stop’ at the crossroads. America needs to stop. Stop what we are doing long enough and look around. Look back at where we have been and look forward to where we are going. The Lord says to ask for the old, godly way and walk in it. America is not walking in a godly way in 2024, but just the opposite. One candidate has referenced in campaign speeches ‘we’re not going back.’ But in this case, going back is not a bad idea if we’re going back to the godly principles America was founded on. The Lord says if we travel that old, godly path, we will find rest for our souls. ‘We the people’ have not had rest in our souls for decades.
Again, the Lords words to Judah through Jeremiah parallels America today. ‘We the people’ are responding to God the same way by saying, “No, that’s not the road we want!” The United States has pushed God aside in favor of ourselves. God becomes relevant when He is needed to round up votes, but not to His godly ways of administering equal justice, governing honestly, and protecting the sanity of life. Yes, America is at the crossroads. Judah was at the crossroads, and they refused to go the old, godly way resulting in their destruction. America and the world at large are at the crossroads between good and evil. As Christians we understand God is in control and He will choose the President of the United States for His purposes. But that does not excuse us for not participating in voting for those who will best follow the old, godly way remaining on that path so those they govern, ‘We the people,’ will find rest for our souls.
“Israel failed to destroy the nations in the land, as the LORD had commanded them. Instead, they mingled among the pagans and adopted their evil customs. They worshiped their idols, which led to their downfall.” Psalm 106:34-36 NLT
The apostle Paul informs us of a sure promise that all Christians have, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2Cor.5:17 niv) If that is true, why do we hang onto certain things that should be gone, not only gone but be destroyed? I guess we could say, ‘we still have a sin nature’, and that is true, but that is not an excuse to let that certain sin hang around. The Bible says, ‘the old has gone.’
Israel was given specific instructions from God to complete when they entered the Promised Land. “You must destroy all the nations the LORD your God hands over to you. Show them no mercy, and do not worship their gods, or they will trap you.” (Dt.7:16 nlt) Israel left some of the pagan nations hang around by not destroying them as God had commanded. Eventually they did become trapped into worshiping their gods by intermingling with them. The psalmist writes, “They worshiped their idols which led to their downfall.” (Ps.106:36 nlt)
There is a reference in the sports world when a team fails to put away their opponent, ‘they’re letting them hang around.’ If the defense doesn’t get serious and beef up their attack mode, their downfall is certain as the psalmist says. A team cannot afford to sit back on its heels and let the opponent run all over them. If they had taken take of business in the beginning of the game, they wouldn’t be in danger of succumbing to defeat.
Likewise, Christians need to be taking care of business and not allow any of our besetting sins to hang around, but to destroyed them. We can be certain if we fail to destroy what God commands us, we will become complacent, compromising, and caught up with what we should not have left hang around.
In 1980 the Charlie Daniels Band released the recording of ‘In America,’ the lead single from their album ‘Full Moon.’ The song rose to number 11 on the billboard charts as a call to patriotism after the stresses of the 1970’s in the United States. The opening line is, “Well, the eagle’s been flyin’ slow And the flag’s been flyin’ low And a lotta people sayin’ that America’s fixin’ to fall.” (1) The premise was, if united, America will stand and not fall from outside forces looking to destroy us. Although we fight among ourselves, we are united when threatened from the outside. That may still be true today, but what if the sources looking to destroy us are not on the outside, but from within. The phrase, ‘the enemy from within’ has got a lot of traction in the United States lately just three weeks before the election. However, I am not referring to any one political party, or any individuals, but to the nation as a whole.
The prophet Jeremah was commissioned by God to warn the people of Judah of the destruction that was coming their way because of their sins. Throughout his messaging Jeremiah not only warned them, but also let them know that if they repented and turned back to God, they would not be destroyed. “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Even now, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land.’” (Jer.7:3 nlt) God is gracious and merciful. The people of Judah had plenty of opportunity to turn back to God, but they continued to turn their back on Him. America is in the same place today. America has turned their back on God as a nation.
Yes, the United States is a secular nation, but it has been founded on the principles of God’s Holy Word, the Bible. The Lord has blessed us throughout its short history and will continue to bless us if those founding principles stay in place. But if we remove them, I’m afraid our blessing will be removed as well. America will be fixin’ to fall.
For those of you who think America will never fall, remember God judged His own chosen people for turning their back on Him and not repenting. You may say but Israel was a theocracy, and you would be right, however, compare Jeremiah’s words of warning to them and the United States today. See how they are related. “But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols. Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.” (Jer.7:5-7 nlt)
This enemy from within America is exactly what Jeremiah told Judah before their destruction and captivity if they did not repent; evil thoughts and acting on those thoughts, not treating each other with justice both personally and in the courts, a broken immigration system that is exploiting the innocent, not caring for the less fortunate among us, people being murdered every day on our city streets and in the womb, and worshiping the idols of our desires.
One other line from Charlie Daniels’ ‘In America,’ “We’re gonna put her feet back On the path of righteousness and then God bless America again.” (1) I don’t think we have done that, but just the opposite. America’s fixin’ to fall, but it does not need to be. If we do put our feet back on the path of righteousness, God will bless America again!
I say to myself, ‘I shouldn’t have done that,’ after I already did it. Then I ask myself, ‘why did I do that?’ to which I have no answer, most of the time. Solomon’s proverb may or may not be comforting at this time when he writes, ‘The Lord directs our steps.’ If I did something stupid, how could that be the Lord directing me, but on the other hand if it turns out for the good it had to be the Lord directing me. As I look back over my life, I’ve had many of those occasions perhaps you have too, but do not waste your time trying to figure out how the Lord directs our steps, just accept it.
You may ask, ‘Is God directing my steps when I am involved in sin?’ Absolutely not! God is holy and cannot accept sin in His sight. That is why God the Father turned His back on Jesus at Calvary when the sins of the world were placed on Him at the cross. God gives us free will in making choices in this life, but when we put our trust in Him and accept His Son as our savior God will lead those who are His according to His will. Do Christians still sin. Absolutely! Although God is not directing our steps into sin, He will still work out His purposes as we confess and repent providing us with grace and mercy.
It’s hard to accept at times that we could be in a certain place due to the consequences of our sin and yet the Lord continues to bless us. He uses us in influencing others towards Him according to His will. God does not give up on His children who confess and come back to Him. He will even use our past to glorify Him as we repent and live a life of righteousness. “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” (Is.42:3 niv) God does direct the steps of those who are His, even the stupid things we do. He will make them right. But remember God never directs us into sin, but as we confessed and repent, He will forgive us applying His grace and mercy. Hard to accept, I know. Just accept it and praise Him for it!
Being able to see clearly is essential for us to have a good quality of life. Other physical and mental God given abilities also enrich our well-being. In many ways they complement each other and those who suffer physical blindness have leaned heavily on other abilities. Being able to compensate for a deficiency physically such as not seeing clearly unfortunately doesn’t carry over in a spiritual sense. Sadly, those who do not see clearly spiritually do not even realize that they are blind, blind to their own sin. They live their lives in a self-righteous state ignoring the possibility that they also are in need of some correction.
One of the most quoted sayings of Jesus is, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” (Mt 7:1 esv) Many repeat these words with the false intent to criticize anyone who would make a judgment against another. The premise being Jesus’ words, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” But Jesus goes on to say, “For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” (Mt.7:2 esv) Jesus is not saying that we are never to judge, but to not be condemning, hypocritical, or with a self-righteous attitude. In order to accomplish this within God’s standards we need to remove any false righteousness that has a hold on us blocking our vision to our inner selves.
Jesus’ used of comparisons has a way of undeniably coming to the point with precise clarity. He tells His listening disciples, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Mt.7:3 esv) A ‘speck’ is a dry stalk, a twig, or a straw, in comparison to a ‘log’ which is a support beam. Obviously there is no comparison. With a strong support beam in front of you it is impossible to see a tiny wind-blown twig with any accuracy. Therefore you sense some fault and rush to condemning judgment without acknowledging your own faults. In a sense, you see right through your sin as if it didn’t exist.
As Christians, we have an opportunity to help a brother or sister in the Lord with the speck in their eye. However, we are unable to do so if we harbor sin in our lives. Let us confess our sins and rid ourselves of the log barriers affecting our vision and be able to help those in need resulting in all of us to ‘see clearly.’
Last Sunday we left Haman in humiliation after he was blindsided by King Ahasuerus in having to parade Mordecai around the city square in recognition of his favor with the king. Haman’s plan was to get permission from the king to hang Mordecai who was rebelling against Haman’s authority as the king’s highest official. He did not get permission to hang Mordecai, and he found out just how highly King Ahasuerus thought of Mordecai. Haman knew he would soon be found out and his world would come to a crashing end.
Chapter 6 ends with the doomsday call upon Haman. “While they were still talking, the king’s eunuchs arrived and quickly took Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared.” (Es.6:14 nlt) Haman’s wife and friends surmised a fatal future for Haman. He would be found out dissolving his plan and his life at the same time. Haman didn’t have enough time to digest all the bad news he was receiving or try to make an escape before the king’s officials came and escorted him to his final meal. Sin has a way of unravelling and exposing itself. You do not always have time to make amends or change your ways before the consequences arrive. It’s too late. Haman’s time had run out.
Once again King Ahasuerus asked Esther what her request was after the meal. This time Queen Esther answered convincedly. “If I have found favor with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request, I ask that my life and the lives of my people will be spared. For my people and I have been sold to those who would kill, slaughter, and annihilate us.” (Es.7:3-4a nlt) If the king did not know his wife was Jewish, he knew it now, and that she would not escape the annihilation. His immediate reaction was who would do such a thing to his wife, the queen. Esther emboldened even more blurted out, “This wicked Haman is our adversary and our enemy.” (Es7:6a nlt)
Sometimes when sin is found out it comes in like a floodlight shining brightly on you exposing your sin to all in view. A variety of emotions occur, guilt, shame, remorse, anger, fear. Haman’s was fear, he was terrified. He coerced the king into agreeing to the destruction of a people’s group without naming them. The king did not need to ask Esther who was the one who did this. He would have remembered the edit he decreed by Haman’s persuasion and Haman obviously didn’t know Queen Esther was a Jew. God’s providential hand had been making all the moves in Esther being chosen queen. She was now in a position to save her people.
King Ahasuerus was outraged storming out to the palace garden while Haman pleaded for his life to Esther the queen, the only hope he had. In his frantic begging before the queen, Haman ended up falling onto the couch next to Esther at the moment the king walked in. “The king exclaimed, ‘Will he even assault the queen right here in the palace, before my very eyes?’ And as soon as the king spoke, his attendants covered Haman’s face, signaling his doom.” (Es.7:8b nlt) Harbona, one of the king’s officials noted to King Ahasuerus that a gallows was already built by Haman in his own courtyard. Then he added this for the king’s benefit, “He intended to use it to (hang) Mordecai, the man who saved the king from assassination.” (Es.7:9b nlt)
Haman was found out. He had conceived a plot for the destruction of the Jews, he was perceived to have assaulted the queen, and he planned to have Mordecai hanged. He paid a price for it as he was hanged on his own gallows in place of Mordecai. The Lord saw to it that Haman’s plans failed. God protected His chosen people and will continue to do so until Jesus’ reign in the millennium kingdom.
The Jewish people and Christians today are facing continuing threats. There are many Haman’s in the world today who want to wipe out all Christians and Jews. Freedom of religion is slowly being eroded in America and around the world. The most persecuted religious group in the world are Christians. We may suffer, but Jesus said we would. Satan knows he is running out of time and is making every move he can, but as Christ’s church, we do not need to fear. Our Lord God is the master chess player, and His moves are already planned out as with the story of Esther. The Jews were saved by another edit written by Mordecai using the king’s signet ring. Mordecai was now the king’s high official, and he wrote the Jews were to defend themselves against their annihilation by killing those attacking them and to take their property. (Es.8-10) The Jewish festival of ‘Purim’ celebrates the victory the Lord gave them that day, and the Lord will give all Christians the victory we have in Jesus over Satan as He makes His final moves.
“Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.” Psalm 32:5 NLT
They say, ‘confession is good for the soul.’ I can testify to that myself for it is true. Whether it’s confession towards God or to a friend, co-worker, neighbor, my wife, or anyone else I may have offended or done them wrong, it is a good thing to do. It may not remove the consequences, and the hurt may take a while to dissipate but you have not only cleared the air but have lifted a burden of guilt before the Lord God.
David in one of the seven penitential psalms, Psalm 32, said the following, “Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt.” (Ps.32:5a nlt) The other six penitential psalms are Ps.6, 38, 51,102, 130, 143. David describes his body as wasting away as he refused to confess his sin. His body was drained, and his strength was gone as absorbed by the summer heat. He felt God’s heavy hand upon him. Keeping his sin to himself, which really wasn’t to himself for God knew, just continued to eat him up inside. David needed some good for his soul.
When David confessed his sin to the Lord, the burden was lifted. God had forgiven him and took away his guilt. David said, “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!” (Ps.32:1 nlt) David’s soul was restored, his body rejuvenated with God’s living water of forgiveness, he has a clean slate, and is surrounded by God’s protection. If you are in a refusal to confess state of mind, take heed to David’s testimony. It will continue to sap you of your energy until you make things right with the Lord and confess your sin to Him and whoever else needs to hear your confession. You will be forgiven, and your guilt will disappear and that will be good for your soul.
Word for the Soul 