Friday 4 November 2005

Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen

“Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress. And the children of Israel said unto Jehovah, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; only deliver us, we pray thee, this day.” - Judges 10v14-15

Israel had once again turned from God. For eighteen years they had been under the oppression of the Philistines. After all that time they finally called out to God for help. God’s response had to be a surprise to them –“You have forgotten me, go and ask the gods you have chosen for help. It appears that God wanted to make them aware of how far they had gone.

They finally proved that they were genuine, not only did they admit their sin, the Bible says they “put away the false gods and served Him. ” God’s response? He was grieved for their misery. What a precious response from a God Who had been rejected by them.

They key here is that these people finally showed true repentance by putting away the false gods and serving Him. They understood what true confessing of sin was. When we truly confess it is evidenced by action. We put away whatever is turning our attention from Him and serving Him. There is no excuse for sin in our lives – He gives us all the power we need to forsake them and serve Him. At salvation we received full deliverance from the penalty and the power of sin. Lets’ be sure that when we confess our sin we do so my forsaking the “god” that motivates that sin and serve the Lord.

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