It has been a very long time since I updated. So much has happened, but it seems that time has just slipped away. This blog was put on the back burner while other ministries and other issues took precedence. But there is so much need in America that I would like to start it back up again.
Many of the things that have been happening lately have made me very upset. So much wickedness, so much corruption. The Christian Post contains stories of “Christians” who realize there is a problem and want to do something about it. There are many different things being tried to “save” our nation. But there seems to be a lack of spiritual understanding of what God wants of His children. How is righteousness established in a nation? How is wickedness dealt with? How are wicked counsels brought to naught and wicked rulers brought down?
Remember that Queen Mary feared the prayers of John Knox more than she feared an army of men. And our rulers ought to have that same fear. This does not mean we want anything bad to happen to them. It means that we desire that they fear God. The purpose of our prayer for God to save our nation should not be so that things go well for us, though that should be a benefit of the answer to those prayers. (See II Timothy 2:1-4) Our desire should be that God’s name is magnified in our own nation and in nations around the world. When this is the case we will be able to lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty.
The Psalmist David set a precedent for us. He was the king of his country. Yet he knew that wickedness and corruption was a serious problem. Though he was a man of war, he was not a man of revenge. And his prayer was that God would deal with these problems. While praying for God to deal with the wickedness and corruption, David also prayed for God to make his heart a good and right heart.
These are things that have impressed me as I have been reading Psalm 34 and Psalm 37. Psalm 34 was written during the time that David was fleeing from King Saul. He had to change his behaviour before Abimelech to keep from being killed. Yet his prayer to God was, “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.” (Psalm 34:1,2)
The first step to salvation of a nation is the humility of God’s people. Praise and honour belong to God. Our souls should boast in the LORD.
Some “Christians” have realized that we have acted like hypocrites before the unsaved in the land. They came up with a “solution.” But this solution will not save our land or preserve freedom for God’s people. What these “Christians” have proposed is that we confess our hypocrisy. We should write little notes and put them here and there. These notes should confess our shortcomings and our hypocritical actions to the unsaved.
Hmmm! What is wrong with this? I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” In Psalm 25:11, King David says, “For thy name's sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.” And Psalm 32:5-7 says, “5I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. 6For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. 7Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.”
Our prayer of confession of sins is to God, not to man. According to James chapter 5, there is a time to confess faults one to another in the church. This is to help keep the church pure, to help keep unity within the church, and to help each other spiritually. Along with confessing faults one to another, this passage says to sing Psalms and to be patient and to stablish our hearts. It is not a case of confessing our sins to man.
Nowhere does the Scripture talk about making confession of sins to other people. And certainly it does not tell us to confess our sins and our hypocrisy to unbelievers. They see it already. They are not looking for us to tell them how bad we are. They are looking to see whether or not we have a changed life. We are to confess our sins to God and trust in Him and humble ourselves before Him with all our hearts. God is waiting to hear the prayers of the humble, for the Scripture says, “LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear.” (Psalm 10:17) It is interesting that the context of this prayer seemed to deal directly with political oppression. The rest of this prayer called upon the Lord to hear the cry of the humble, “To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.” (v.18)
Oh, may God help us to be humble before Him so that He might heal our land and save us from the wrath of the wicked who are His tool to chastise His wayward children! God hath made even the wicked for the day of evil (Proverbs 16:4), but He will hear the prayer of the humble when they cry for deliverance from the oppression of man. God help us! And God save the USA!