Today: God’s Correction and our Response.
Good morning beloved,
[For certain reason due to human frailties and limitations, I could not send out exhortations and prayer directions for day 6, 7 and 8. I hereby tender my apology both to The Lord and to you His people. However, praise The Lord, we are back!]
The Lord desires to give us the best of all He has prepared for us but sadly we are not ready.
We are not walking steadily under His smile. When we give Him pleasure, He smiles.
That can change if we are ready to change from our wrong ways and repent.
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” 2Chron 7: 14
Repentance is a good word, my friend. Without repentance, all humanity is doomed.
It is however important to note that true repentance is not automatic.
If the grace of God is not operating in anyone’s life, he cannot truly repent.
Repentance means a clear and unreserved acknowledgement of one’s pitiful state (and guilt) and a matching strong resolve to do whatever it takes to relocate, spiritually speaking, from that position forever. I am convinced that nobody can truly repent without God’s special intervention borne out of His love toward such soul. Genuine repentance is a miraculous and divine process.
The pattern and pathways to this gracious phenomenon can be different from to another. God is sovereign. He knows us more we know ourselves.
Sometimes repentance comes to us through the ministry of God’s Word, The Rhema.
Sometimes it comes through God sending someone to talk to us (David and Prophet Nathan).
Sometimes He ‘terrorizes’ through dreams and vision that terrifies us into Godly fear.
Job 33: 14-30 “For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceive to it not.
In a DREAM, in a VISION of the night, when deep sleep fall upon men,
in slumberings upon the bed; Then he opens the ears of men,
and sealeth their instruction, THAT HE (GOD) MAY WITHDRAW MAN from his purpose,
and hide pride from man. He keeps back his soul from the pit,
and his life from perishing by the sword. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed,
and the multitude of his bones with strong pain: ………… If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand,………..to show unto man his uprightness: Then he is GRACIOUS unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom……………….He shall pray unto God, and he will be favorable unto him:
and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.
He looketh upon men, and IF ANY CAN SAY, I HAVE SINNED and perverted that which was right, (REPENTANCE) and it profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit,and his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things works God OFTENTIMES with man,
To bring back his soul from the pit to be enlightened with the light of the living”
Sometimes He comes more forcefully. This method is usually tough on our feelings.
Psalm 23 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He MAKES (forcefully) me to lie down in green pastures: he LEADS (disciplines) me beside the still waters. He restores (after effect of repentance) my soul:he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
………..thy ROD (of correction) and thy staff they comfort me”
Psalm 88: 7 “Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves”
Psalm 119: 67- “Before I WAS AFFLICTED (chastised) I went astray:
but now have I kept thy word. Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes…,,,,,,
IT IS GOOD (gracious) for me that I have been AFFLICTED (disciplined with pain); that I might learn thy statutes”
In rounding up today, let us learn from Prophet Habakkuk’s attitude to God’s sovereignty when it comes to how He chooses to instigate CORRECTION and REPENTANCE.
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines…yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation” Hab 3:17-18
What a wonderful encouragement from such a dark and discouraging prophecy!
While the prophet Habakkuk struggled with the fact that God was going to send a terrible and decimating judgment on rebellious Israel, he eventually came to realize that God is sovereign. Although his chastening may not feel good, or yield immediate fruit, it is always right and good and it is always his prerogative to allow it.
Habakkuk ends the record of his struggles with this great declaration: although suffering may come, although pleasures and provision may run dry, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. The Lord, not my surroundings, is my salvation!
Habakkuk’s profound response to the horror he and his people are about to face is, quite simply, faith in God. It is faith which does not depend on circumstances to be sustained. It is faith which does not require prosperity or mental/emotional acuity to persist. It is faith which is able to say when the storm clouds gather, “Thy will be done.”
Habakkuk had come to know that God was beautiful. And he could see that whatever God had for him was the very best. Only true faith can say that. Only true faith can see God as “the God of my salvation” when joyful deliverance seems so elusive and God himself so distant. May that faith be yours today.
Prayers:
1. Lord bring me to the point of seeing and acknowledging my inadequate state.
2. There are times that I am not sure of what I am doing. Be not hidden from me, O my God!
3. Father be gracious unto me, let me not deceive myself while I think that I am deceiving others.
4. Merciful God, break me till I can truly repent of all my wrongful ways. Take me to the place called “there”. Where I can receive strength to make Godly choices.
5. Grant me the grace to be able to endure your ‘dealings’.
6. Help me to handle the special privilege that you have given me with Godly fear, sometimes my humanity tend to overwhelm me. Love must be pure and enduring.
Our Goal is God!
Good morning.
The Liteman Toks
Portsmouth