Thursday July 5, 2012

If there is something in your life that you need to repent of, seek to do it today, rather than leaving it to tomorrow.

Read Deuteronomy 32:7-35;  Romans 2:1-4

 

Imagine, if you will, a man who found a helpless, homeless and mangy mutt in a mud puddle. If left, this malnourished and neglected dog would surely die. Yet the young man had compassion upon the dog. He drew it out of the mud, carried it home and cared for that dog. He nursed it back to good health. He fed the dog and groomed it. That young man loved the dog and trained it and taught it more than it had ever known.  They were pals. Now imagine that one day this dog turned and bit his master.

 

While it’s imaginable and quite conceivable that an animal could turn quickly, it’s inconceivable that a nation could turn against God and bite Him.  The Lord found Israel. He cared for her. He led her through the desert.  He blessed the fruit of her field and fed her until she was plump and full.  Even so, Israel rejected God and made Him jealous by bowing down to other gods. She rejected her Rock, her Saviour and sacrificed to demons, to false gods. The nation rejected God her Creator. She kicked sand in God’s face.

 

In response, we read in vs 20-27 of Gods’ reaction to the sin of His people. These verses form the great tragedy of the Bible. God rejects and punishes His own people because they have sinned. God would have blessed them, loved them and lavished them with good things but because of their sinfulness, He punished His own people.  They proved to be a nation without sense, without discernment.

 

Let us never take our salvation for granted and let us never mistake God’s compassion and patience with indifference or inaction. God is not indifferent to sin. He hates sin. He will punish all sin. At the present time, God’s patience (what seems like inaction to you and I) is meant to be a blessing to us that leads us to repentance.

Prayer:

¥ Pray for the music team in your congregation. Include the leaders, the musicians, singers and technical people. Pray that God would bless these people for their dedication and hard work. Pray that God would continue to use them to lead us in our Sonday worship and that we would be blessed by their service and drawn closer to our Lord and Saviour.

¥ Pray for our cell groups. Ask God to knit each group together in a Christ-like love and to grow each cell in depth of knowledge and insight into the Word. Pray that our cell groups grow in number as well.