Isaiah 62-64
1 Timothy 1
“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Hebrews 3:15
If we were to summarize what genuine repentance looks like in Scripture, David gives us an example in Psalm 51. He gave an unvarnished acknowledgment of the fact, depth and defilement of his sin, followed by a desire for radical cleansing that is nothing short of the Spirit doing a new work of creation, bringing order out of the inner chaos of his spirit and concluding with a confidence of restoration to fruitfulness. David’s repentance was not a simple “I’m sorry” like when a child is forced to say “sorry” to their sibling. Genuine repentance is much deeper.
What triggers this kind of repentance? How do we kick-start the process? In David’s case, God sent the prophet Nathan to declare God’s Word to him. While we do not have living prophets today, God could use human agents to speak to us about things that need to be set right. Other times, it could also happen in our own private personal study.
I (Sunder Krishnan) remember back in 1977, when I was teaching an adult Sunday school class on the book of Hebrews. It was a Saturday night and I was going over my notes for the study the next day. In a commentary on Hebrews 3, the words of the late Andrew Murray cut to my heart: “The mind is satisfied with beautiful thoughts and pleasant feelings; but the heart does not hear God. When we are secretly content with our religion, our sound doctrine and Christian life…When our life does not seek to keep pace with our knowledge, and we have more pleasure in hearing and knowing than obeying and doing, we utterly lose the meekness to which the promise is given, and, amidst all the pleasing forms of godliness, the heart is too hard to discern the voice of the Spirit….it is an unspeakably solemn thought, that with a mind occupied with religious truth, and feelings stirred at times by the voice and words of men, and a life apparently given to religious works, the heart may be closed to the humble, direct intercourse with God....”
After reading that, I became dumbfounded. I closed my Bible and began to confess to God of my prayerlessness. I had been a Christian for 14 years at that time, studied the Bible, taught it and prayed in public. But I had no deep personal private communion with God. That day, God convicted me deeply through a prophet in the written word of my prayerlessness.
A call to repentance can happen in a public setting or in our own personal reading. May our hearts be inclined to hear when God speaks to us.
Dear God, incline my heart to hear what You want to say to me today. May it not be just words that I hear and know, but something that I would obey and do. Thank You, Lord.
1 Timothy 1
“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Hebrews 3:15
If we were to summarize what genuine repentance looks like in Scripture, David gives us an example in Psalm 51. He gave an unvarnished acknowledgment of the fact, depth and defilement of his sin, followed by a desire for radical cleansing that is nothing short of the Spirit doing a new work of creation, bringing order out of the inner chaos of his spirit and concluding with a confidence of restoration to fruitfulness. David’s repentance was not a simple “I’m sorry” like when a child is forced to say “sorry” to their sibling. Genuine repentance is much deeper.
What triggers this kind of repentance? How do we kick-start the process? In David’s case, God sent the prophet Nathan to declare God’s Word to him. While we do not have living prophets today, God could use human agents to speak to us about things that need to be set right. Other times, it could also happen in our own private personal study.
I (Sunder Krishnan) remember back in 1977, when I was teaching an adult Sunday school class on the book of Hebrews. It was a Saturday night and I was going over my notes for the study the next day. In a commentary on Hebrews 3, the words of the late Andrew Murray cut to my heart: “The mind is satisfied with beautiful thoughts and pleasant feelings; but the heart does not hear God. When we are secretly content with our religion, our sound doctrine and Christian life…When our life does not seek to keep pace with our knowledge, and we have more pleasure in hearing and knowing than obeying and doing, we utterly lose the meekness to which the promise is given, and, amidst all the pleasing forms of godliness, the heart is too hard to discern the voice of the Spirit….it is an unspeakably solemn thought, that with a mind occupied with religious truth, and feelings stirred at times by the voice and words of men, and a life apparently given to religious works, the heart may be closed to the humble, direct intercourse with God....”
After reading that, I became dumbfounded. I closed my Bible and began to confess to God of my prayerlessness. I had been a Christian for 14 years at that time, studied the Bible, taught it and prayed in public. But I had no deep personal private communion with God. That day, God convicted me deeply through a prophet in the written word of my prayerlessness.
A call to repentance can happen in a public setting or in our own personal reading. May our hearts be inclined to hear when God speaks to us.
Dear God, incline my heart to hear what You want to say to me today. May it not be just words that I hear and know, but something that I would obey and do. Thank You, Lord.
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