Saturday July 9, 2011

Read Hosea 14:1-4; 1 John 1:9

A believing woman rings her friend with the goal of encouraging her friend and blessing her. After a few moments she’s gossiping and slandering that other woman in cell! She had every intention of being a blessing but something happened. Something went wrong! Have you ever been there? Have you ever had the greatest intentions, only to fall into some old habit or sin?

Later that afternoon this woman is sitting alone thinking about her sin. Like you and I, she’s genuinely sorrowful for what she did. But where to now? What does she do? She understands the biblical injunction (even if she doesn’t know what that word means) to repent. But how?

Hosea 14:1-4 is a great counsel for us when we have sinned. We need, first and foremost, to return to the Lord as quickly as possible when we have sinned. Leaving the appointment with God until the guilt has lessened is a deadly habit to get into. We must return back to God fully realising that our sin has been our downfall. We need to be ready to admit to God that we have sinned. We need to come to God willing to admit that He was right and that we were wrong.

But we also need to return to God with words. Saying ‘Sorry’ just won’t cut it. We need to tell God what we’re sorry for. We need to plead with God for His GRACE so that we might again offer ‘the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name’.

As we confess our sins to God we must understand that we have, in some sense, committed idolatry. Just as Assyria couldn't save the Israelites, nor could false gods deliver them, we need to realise that these sinful areas cannot save us or meet our needs fully. We need to realise that by indulging our physical needs or desires we have bowed down to something that is not God and sought fulfilment which only God can give through legitimate means.

What we need to do is to talk deeply and passionately with God about our sin. We need to open up and tell Him about them without excuses or justifications, without blaming others, without denials or without hiding the truth.

And take heart. Look at God’s response in vs 4.

"I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.

When we turn to God and seek His forgiveness God promises to forgive. He promises to wash us clean and to love us freely. Such grace, such love is too good to miss out on. I personally know of many people who have found ongoing victory as soon as they've applied this principle of running straight to God when they fall into sin. Of course they have! God doesn’t make promises that He won’t keep!

Prayer:

V Pray that with the recent natural disasters happening around the world that people will look to God to help them through the pain and loss. Pray that we will all be more aware of how fragile life is and how important it is to turn to God not only in times of need, but in times of joy.