Tuesday, October 11, 2016

ELEMENTS OF PRAYER: ACCEPTING CONSEQUENCE



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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to Your truth. The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything He does; yet we have not obeyed Him.”

Daniel 9:11b-14

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s devotion, the third in our six part series on elements of prayer, we found Daniel in a state of confession before God, clearly admitting the sins of the Israelite people.

Today, we see that it’s just as important to accept the consequences that come from sin as it is to confess the sin itself. Look again at these words as we continue to look at Daniel’s prayer in Chapter 9:

“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to Your truth. The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything He does; yet we have not obeyed Him.”  Daniel 9:11b-14

Go back to the Law of Moses and this is what you will find God telling His people:

“‘Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.’”

“‘But if you will not listen to Me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject My decrees and abhor My laws and fail to carry out all My commands and so violate My covenant, then in My anger I will be hostile toward you, and I Myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you. I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. I myself will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.’”  Leviticus 26:1, 14-15, 28, 30-35

These words, written down eight to none hundred years before Daniel went before the Lord with his prayer, spelled out clearly what would happen if God’s people decided to sin against Him and worship other gods and idols. The warning had been given but generations later, the Israelites in Daniel’s time behaved as if there had been some expiration date on God’s promise of punishment for sin. They behaved in accordance with their will, not His, and along the way they defiled and desecrated everything He expected them to keep holy, including His beloved holy temple in Jerusalem.

Daniel confessed as much in the portion of his prayer we studied yesterday. Today, we find him acknowledging that the Israelites got exactly what they deserved as God poured out the “curses and sworn judgments” upon them from the Law. And note the Israelites didn’t just a get a portion of God’s penalty; rather, they received all of the disaster He promised. All seventy years of it.

The other part of this scripture passage I don’t want us to miss is that place where Daniel says this:

“The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything He does; yet we have not obeyed Him.”

The Lord is righteous in everything that He does. That is truth. He is perfectly right and thus never wrong.

Why is this important?

Because no one can say that God made some kind of error when He brings judgment on any person. He never errors.

No one can say that God committed an act of injustice because that would mean He committed some wrong and we know that is an absolute impossibility. God is always just because He is always right in everything He does including bringing consequences on His people.

Keep this in mind when you go to prayer in the midst of what might be God’s correction for transgressions you may have committed. Follow Daniel’s lead and not only confess your sins but acknowledge and accept the consequences of your actions, giving thanks for the way God disciplines to mold and shape you into the person He desires you to be.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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