Repent

Repent

To repent is to feel sincere regret or remorse for a wrongdoing…or that awful word “sin.”  I’ve heard some say there really isn’t sin any more, as we are all under God’s grace.  But is that true?  I don’t believe it is.  Oh yes, we are under God’s grace if we believe in his son Jesus and accept him as Savior, but God is holy.  And he requires holiness from us.  And that means we have to deal with sin…by repenting.

Job 42:6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

What did Job do that caused or required or prompted him to repent and “despise” himself?  Aren’t we all supposed to think good thought about ourselves, no matter how we feel or what we've done?

Job had a long discourse with God about his suffering, and God had many questions to ask Job, to which Job finally answered and surrendered to the knowledge and the truth that God was God, and he was not to be doubted, that he could be trusted, and he was not to be quizzed like a man.

Job had an “ah-ha!” moment when God spoke to him, revealed himself to him, and Job then realized that his shaking his fist in God’s face was not a proper response to the holy God.

That’s what repentance is. 

It’s realizing that God is who he said He is – just, kind, good AND holy – and then falling on our knees in a longing to be holy just like he is, so that we can experience all that he is.

Press On

Hosea 6:3

Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”

This verse sort of piggybacks on yesterday’s verse. 

Acknowledge the Lord and press on to acknowledge him more.  In other words, don’t get so busy, so consumed with looking at our phones and looking down to see where we’re headed, and looking around at others to see if they’re approving…but rather, look up.

God is a sure thing…in this unsure world.

When the sun rises, look up and notice that faithfulness.

When the rain falls, in any season, notice that surety that it brings of new growth.

Acknowledge the Lord.

Give thanks to Him for the sun and the rain.

The Appearance

Ezekiel 1:28

Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. 

Have you seen a rainbow lately?  We see them a lot in the spring, where I live.  and I don’t’know a single person who doesn’t marvel and look at rainbows when they appear.  Children love them, adults stop and take pictures of them, and all over the earth people stop to look – because they don’t last for long.  But they’re absolutely beautiful.

This verse compares rainbows to the glory of the Lord.  It appears, it makes us gasp, it stirs our hearts, it causes us to pause and capture, and then it disappears…and reappears…and disappears…and reappears…

in every season when the clouds and rains come, and

it doesn’t emerge on cloudless days.

That’s something to think about.

Worthless

Jeremiah 14:22

Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.

Sometimes it’s vital that we remember where our blessings come from.  

Why?  

Because it makes us marvel, worship, give thanks, adore, and realize that all good things in life are blessings from his hand.

Some worship the creation, but we are to worship the creator.  And there’s a big difference.

The Lord our GOD is the one who “does all this” and it therefore stands to reason that we should place all of our hope in Him.

Next time it rains, look up and smile…and give thanks.

Let it Be

Isaiah 45

You heavens above, rain down my righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness flourish with it; I, the Lord, have created it

Now that’s a perfect picture of how the earth ought to be:

The rain that falls is perfectly pure and right and good.

The earth receives it, and the people respond in faith and praise (salvation)

Righteousness flourishes (like blooming roses!)

Creation sings – because the Lord reigns!

Driving Rain

Proverbs 28:3

A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.

Another proverb about rain…there are lots of them!

Driving rain – you know the kind that comes down so hard that it uproots everything that’s planted.  And that’s sure disaster!  Our plants need soaking rain, that runs deep, not driving rain that pushes out.

Yet that’s what an oppressive ruler is like.

That’s what a provoking father is like.

That’s what a demanding unreasonable mom is like.

That’s what an overbearing boss is like.

Those over whom we rule come uprooted and run away downstream when we oppress them like driving rain…

And no fruit springs from the ground that we worked so hard to plant.

Leaky Roof

Proverbs 27

A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping of a leaky roof in a rainstorm;

Ugh, I don’t like this verse, but yet it’s so true. And I’m wondering if this is where the term “henpecked” originated.  A dripping leaky roof is a steady drip drip noise that can drive one crazy, like being pecked by a hen!

I’m thinking this is when we, the wives, constantly gripe and complain and push and prod about the same things over and over, trying to change him into what he’s not.

The only thing about that is that it never works.

If we want a change in our partner, we need to pray and let Him do the work, so that we free our partner from our constant barrage of complaints, in order to hear His voice.

It’s hard to pray and trust but we must.

Or else our leaky roof will become a rising flood that will drown us all…