Wednesday, 31 January 2007
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Broken Promises Repel God's Blessings
Ever felt like God wasn't near? Prayers go unanswered and you struggle to survive day to day. David, the King of Israel had this experience, in fact the whole nation was suffering from three years of famine. David finally got on his knees and asked God what the problem was. Isn't it ironic that God answered him? We often pray to God but not expecting Him to answer don't we? It would give us a heart attack if God decided to answer audibly wouldn't it? I have prayed many times for my children to be healed when sick and God always answered. There were a couple of times I felt that God did not answer right away or even for days. That makes you reflect on your life and wonder if there are any unconfessed sins. My broker told me that out of dozens of homes he has sold for others there were only a couple that did not sell. In his opinion the owners were not at peace with God and their homes did not sell. You see, when we have troubled God we bring trouble on ourselves and those we love. God cannot bless us in our sin.
Maybe this is a good time to reflect upon your situation and ask God to reveal any unconfessed sins. I admit that I don't do this as often as I should. If we confess before God daily and make amends with our loved ones daily we will not find ourselves in the situation that Israel was in. In the New Testament it is written that if we go to worship God and have committed an offense againsta brother that we should immediately get right with our brother. We cannot even enter genuine worship until we have right relationship with others.
The Israelites had sworn protection to the Gibeonites but King Saul disregarded the promise and in the words of the NIV version he tried to annihilate them. So, God brought famine against Israel. Does God really need to replace our ribeyes with pintos to get our attention? Yes, I think he does. God will rock our world so that we repent and continue our mission in this world. How would Israel be a light to the nations if it were known for breaking its promises? God told David that his trouble was due to Saul's killing of the Gibeonites. David went immediately to the Gibeonites and asked what could he do to make things right. Notice how he words it, "How shall I make amends so that you will bless the Lord's inheritance?" Wow! This is serious business.
The Gibeonites admitted that they have no right asking for silver or gold or the death of anyone but since you asked we would like for seven of Saul's sons to be put to death. So David handed them over to them and they killed them. Man! Is this right? If you read through the laws of that time you see that justice was paid a life for a life. Why seven, I'm not sure. I know seven is symbolic of wholeness or completeness. At the end of the passage it says, "after that God answered prayer in behalf of the land." Someone had to die to appease God's wrath and release His blessings upon the nation Israel. In the same sense we must die daily before God realizing that He is God and we are not. Isn't that how we come to salvation in Jesus Christ? We die to ourselves, meaning we understand that we do not have the resources to make it in this world and we need a supernatural indwelling of God to be great people. I want to be humble enough to ask God daily for His mercy and grace so my family can experience the great blessings of God.
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