Wednesday, December
6, 2017
O God, pagan nations have conquered your land, your special
possession. They have defiled your holy
Temple and made Jerusalem a heap of ruins.
They have left the bodies of your servants as food for the birds of
heaven. The flesh of your godly ones has
become food for the wild animals. Blood
has flowed like water all around Jerusalem; no one is left to bury the dead. We are mocked by our neighbors, an object of
scorn and derision to those around us. O Lord,
how long will you be angry with us? Forever?
How long will your jealousy burn like fire? Pour out your wrath on the nations that
refuse to acknowledge you—on kingdoms that do not call upon your name. For they have devoured your people Israel, making
the land a desolate wilderness. Do not hold us guilty for the sins of our
ancestors! Let your compassion quickly
meet our needs, for we are on the brink of despair. Help us, O God of our salvation! Help us for the glory of your name. Save us and forgive our sins for the honor of
your name. Why should pagan nations be
allowed to scoff, asking, “Where is their God?”
Show us your vengeance against the nations, for they have spilled the
blood of your servants. Listen to the
moaning of the prisoners. Demonstrate
your great power by saving those condemned to die. O Lord, pay back our neighbors seven times for
the scorn they have hurled at you. Then
we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will thank you forever and ever, praising
your greatness from generation to generation.
Psalm 79:1-13(NLT)
Cookies are still my weakness! Since
I was a small child I never met a cookie I couldn’t love. And one childhood sin I was hard-pressed to
confess was when Mom caught me red-handed
with that proverbial offending hand deep in the cookie jar.
I’ll spare you the details, other than to remind you that there was that
time you got busted for disobeying a direct command to stay out of this or that. But, this isn’t about your sins. Rather
I’ll point you to what you probably did, by telling you what I did; I jumped
right in the river of denial! With
cookie crumbs all over my face, chocolate chip smears on my hands and half a
jar of cookies missing, mustering-up a straight face I looked right at Mom and copied
Adam’s excuse; I blamed it on the dog!
This Psalm (as many others) recounts the harsh conditions of Israel’s
suffering under the rulers of other nations that had conquered them. It is a lament for the conditions, but
somehow rings empty of confession that takes responsibility for the judgment
they were experiencing. There is a brief
“blaming the dog” where the Psalmist asks God to not hold the sins of their
ancestors against them. But this smacks
of victim-claiming; not me…I didn’t do
anything…must’ve been the dog!
An empty lament is a prayer largely unheard in Heaven. Any prayer for forgiveness and restoration that
will be heard by God always begins with heartfelt and unreserved confession, acknowledging
and accepting the guilt of doing wrong. Mercy
and forgiveness are reserved for those who are guilty – not those who have a
great excuse!
For You
Today
There’s
no question that, given an opportunity, my dog would’ve eaten every cookie in
the jar…but he didn’t deserve to be blamed for something I did.
The
good news remains that when I learned to confess my sins, God not only forgives
me, He finds pretty amazing ways to wash the cookie crumbs off my face.
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