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Day 348: Daniel 9 — For Great Mercy

Matt Lee — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 09:06:26 +0000

In Daniel 9 we read the fervent prayer of Daniel lamenting the sins of Israel. It’s not a finger pointing. In fact he uses the first person plural throughout. Lots of “we”. He includes himself in it all even though he was likely very young when all of it was going on. At no point does he shirk the responsibility or blame anyone else. He bears the full brunt of the shame and punishment for the nation he loves. Quite a different picture from what we would expect, a distinct contrast to the Pharisee that Jesus mentioned who was so thankful to not be as sinful the tax collector just around the corner.

Later, in his prayer for mercy he once again assumes a posture of humility. As he pleads for forgiveness, it is not because he or Israel deserves mercy but because God is righteous. “We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.” And it is for God’s own sake, not his own that Daniel asks for mercy.

Day 85: Deuteronomy 11:1-32 — A Choice

Randy Consford — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:00:38 +0000

In Deuteronomy 11:1-25, Moses continues to exhort the people to obedience, based on the evidence of what God has done for them in the past. The deliverance from Egypt described in Deuteronomy 11:2-4 is narrated in Exodus chapters 13-14. The story of Dathan and Abiram (Deuteronomy 11:6) is told also in Numbers 16. In Deuteronomy 11:10-12, Moses makes a distinction between Egypt and Canaan, the Promised Land. The main difference is that Canaan is not irrigated as Egypt is (Nile River). But God will water the new land, nevertheless. According to Deuteronomy 11:14, God will provide early rain (in October, since the new year began in September), and later rain (in April). Because life will be so good in the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 11:16), the people will be tempted to worship other gods out of complacence. If that happens, Moses warns that there will be no water at all. Deuteronomy 11:18-25 summarizes this entire section. The people are to pass on these words from generation to generation. Deuteronomy 11:24 gives the boundaries of the Promised Land (the western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea, to the west of Canaan).

In Deuteronomy 11:26-32, there are two possibilities offered to the Israelites. The decision rests on obedience to the covenant. Two mountains are mentioned, one for the blessing and one for the curse. Both mountains are located near Shechem in the central hill country, on the west side of the Jordan River. The people of Israel constantly have a choice before them. They can choose either blessing or curse. I find it interesting that God gives us a choice and we think it is a right. We make a good choice and all is well. We make a bad choice and experience some negative consequences and we blame God for giving us a choice or the severity of the consequence. Which is it going to be? Have we reached a point in life that it is so good that we have fallen prey to complacency to think there is no God and there are no consequences? Of all the things that should make us anxious or scared is the idea that God would remove His grace of blessings and curses. Think about what life would be without them. Can there even be a blessing without a curse or vice versa?

Day 2: Genesis 3-4 – Whatever Happened to Sin?

Randy Consford — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 11:00:22 +0000

He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:11-13, ESV)

My wife told me about a t-shirt she saw a young boy wearing, It said, “I didn’t do it, It’s my brother’s fault.”

A man gets drunk and drives down the road late at night and hits a family in on-coming traffic and kills a child. We overlook the drunk and we get upset and blame God for not intervening to prevent tragedies. Of course, if God intervened, we would complain that He doesn’t really give us free will.

I was standing on a sidewalk, leaning against the wall, minding my business, and this young child walks toward me with her mother. The child is walking a little erratic and steps over to my side of the sidewalk and trips on my size 10½ tennis shoes and falls. “Oops”, I say and the mom yells at me for being in the way. I hate to point out again that I was minding my own business, leaning against the wall, and the child and mother were invading my space. Yet, somehow, I was blamed. It was my fault for doing nothing (notice how I blame the mother?)

More and more, I notice that we blame everyone and everything about our sins. What’s new? Adam blamed the woman God gave him and in the process blamed God. Eve blames the serpent. Everyone is innocent. This is the story of Genesis. The origin of sin. It is our story and it occurs to me that history continues to repeat itself. God makes something great and tells us the do’s and don’ts, we break the law and consequences happen but somehow God’s or someone else is to blame. Yet, in the end God will transcend our petty complaints.

God gives man free will and man chooses to sin. A t-shirt represents the philosophy of man…”It’s my brothers fault.” A drunk driver chooses to drive and is guilty of causing the tragedy. Parents defend their children at all costs. Whatever happened to sin? It hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s still right here before us.

God chooses to send His Son to redeem us but we have become too sophisticated to admit we have done anything wrong. The amazing thing is that our denial perpetuates our sin and we just grow increasingly neurotic. What’s the answer? It’s time to acknowledge sin is ever-present and claim our need for “the anointed one” (Christ).

Question:

Will we ever look at ourselves and see our sins and take responsibility for them?