“Then the people of Isra’el cried to Adonai, ‘We have sinned against you by forsaking our God and serving the ba‘alim.’ Adonai said to the people of Israel, “I saved you from the Egyptians, the Emorim, the people of ‘Amon, and the P’lishtim, didn’t I? Likewise, when the people of Tzidon, ‘Amalek and Ma‘on oppressed you, you cried out to me; and I rescued you from their power. Yet you abandoned me and served other gods; therefore I will not rescue you any more. Go and cry to the gods you chose; let them rescue you when you’re in trouble!’“-Judges 10:10-14
Well, the children of Israel are suffering in misery from their oppression.
Oppression they brought upon themselves because of their idolatry.
And while their memories may be short, they certainly aren’t dumb.
So in the midst of their suffering they decide to do the one logical thing they know has always worked in the past.
They cry out to God for help in the hopes He will rescue them from their dire straits.
However, what the people failed to take into account is that our Lord isn’t some heavenly vending machine who instantly gives us a Pepsi just because we throw a couple of quarters at Him.
He knows the condition of every man’s heart.
And this time His response isn’t what the Israelites expected.
“Go and cry to the gods you chose;
let them rescue you when you’re in trouble!'”
Uh oh.
At that response, the people begin to realize things aren’t going to be so simple this time around.
Why did God respond the way He did?
Because the Lord knew they weren’t sincere.
He knew His people really weren’t interested in confession and repentance.
That they only wanted to their circumstances to change so they could go back to their old ways.
Sounds familiar doesn’t it?
Israel had been suffering from intense tribulation for 18 years and during most of that time, never did they seek out God’s help.
It’s obvious here the Lord had had enough.
He was losing patience.
So He tells them in disgust “Since you enjoyed bowing down to and serving the gods of your neighbors for so long, then go to them for help!”
Okay, we need to pause here for a minute and reflect.
Because whether you’ve realized it or not, we’ve just ran into an important lesson about how confession and repentance works in the God’s Kingdom.
Crying out to the Lord with high emotion and throwing dust and ashes onto yourself won’t impress God if your relationship with Him isn’t on a strong footing.
The Lord doesn’t want a ridiculous display of pitiful emotions or pious words from us.
He wants our sincere confession and sincere repentance.
Let’s take a sec and define these words from a true Biblical perspective.
So what is sincere confession?
Sincere confession is agreeing with God that we have indeed broken His commandments.
It’s admitting He is right and we are wrong.
Confession is letting the Lord know what He already knows about the condition of your heart.
That’s the first step.
The second step is repentance.
So what’s true repentance all about?
In one word, it’s all about ACTION.
We STOP binging on pornography or alcohol whenever life starts stressing us out.
We STOP eating unclean foods.
We STOP going to all of these inter-faith worship services that says any other god by any other name is still basically the same God.
Repentance ain’t about making promises or having warm fuzzies in our hearts.
It’s all about taking ACTION.
And that action has to be in accordance with the Lord’s instructions as contained in His Word.
Not based on our own subjective ideas about what is right and wrong.
Remember, as I said yesterday, it’s HIS perspective that’s important, not ours.
Repentance is doing what is right in the Lord’s eyes and stopping what is wrong in His eyes.
Which leads us to the $64,000 question…
…how do we know what is right in His eyes?
The answer to that question is also very simple.
Read His book man!
And when I say read His book, I mean His ENTIRE book.
Not just a couple of chapters from the New Testament (which really isn’t Scripture anyway) before going back to watching Netflix and chomping on Cheetos.
Ya hear me?
Rich, you are so ON with this message.
God knows the heart! King David knew that when he wrote Psalm 51- a contrite spirit and a broken heart God will not refuse.
But when you do wrong, and the problems arise from that, you can’t just call on God for a “Get Out of Jail” card, so you can continue to do wrong.
No way!
When we sin, there are ALWAYS consequences, which are temporary (while we are alive) and eternal (after we are dead). God will forgive us (when, as you point out, we are truly repentant) on an eternal level, but we will suffer the consequences of our wrong-doing while we are still alive; and, what is worse, is that others will have to suffer with us.
I know of no sin any individual can commit that doesn’t affect others, and sadly, it is usually the ones we least want to hurt.