Daniel 9:9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him.
Oh Friends, this is officially the first day of winter, but you could have fooled me, cause it’s been cold and white with snow for quite some time now. I’m also surprised when I read the scriptures outlining our rebellious attitude towards our Creator and Heavenly Father. It certainly makes me wonder if we have some kind of brain deficiency, a basic defect in our design, or if God just forgot to tighten a screw or something. Our disobedience over the years has been so constant and outrageous, that it boggles the imagination. Today’s Bit is part of Daniel’s prayer for his people, who’d been taken captive from Jerusalem to Babylon for their disobedience. The occasion was the capture of Babylon by the Persians, when Darius, ‘of the seed of the Medes, was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.’ (vs.1) It was such a momentous shift of power that it caused Daniel to search the Word, to see if it bore any significance to his people. He found it in Jeremiah. ‘And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon for seventy years…’ and after ‘that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.’ (Jer.25:11-12) That prophecy must have rattled Daniel, for after the Jews had served Babylon for 70 years, Babylon would be destroyed. What would happen to them? So Daniel set himself to pray for his people, ‘with fasting, and sackcloth and ashes.’ And, in keeping with tradition, he first acknowledged God’s righteousness and supremacy. ‘O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments.’ (vs.4) Then he segued into the wrongs of his people: ‘We have sinned and committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgements.’ (vs.5). And he expands on that in vs. 6-7. In vs.8, he solemnly announces, ‘O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, (shame) to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.’ Then he cleverly throws in; ‘To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him.’ And Daniel could rightfully make that claim because of the numerous times the Lord had mercifully forgiven His chosen people, Israel, their wickedness and self-indulgence. Oh people, the same situation exists today. We’ve been disobedient, evil, and broken all His rules. We’ve either set ourselves up as the final authority, or set other man made gods above Him. But Friends, that’s one thing the Lord will never tolerate. He’s very jealous of His exalted position. So for all our transgressions, we’re now paying a humongous price of worldwide fear, violence, hunger and deprivation from acts of terrorism, strife, war, oppression, greed, economic mismanagement and all the other negatives that are currently besetting us. Like Nehemiah, when he prayed for help for his people to rebuild Jerusalem, he rehashed their sins, however concluded; ‘But thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.’ (Neh.9:17) Yes Friends, that’s the wonderful God we worship. Praise His Holy Name! Why then do we continue disobeying Him? Is it because we know He’ll readily show forgiveness and mercy if we repent? For sure He will! But people, please learn one thing; there will always be a price to pay for our disobedience. Perhaps not as much as we really deserve, for remember, He’s not only a God of mercy and forgiveness, but also of righteousness and justice. That’s why He could not just wipe away our sins, and had to send a righteous, sinless Jesus to die for us, so that justice would appear to be done. How much disobedience do we expect Him to put up with eh? As Bruh David declares; ‘If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?’ Not many of us Friends. ‘But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.’ (Ps.130:3-4) That’s also true, but we’re not meant to take advantage of His goodness and mercy, for the Lord in His own time will make us pay. When He gave the two tablets of stone bearing the Ten Commandments to Moses on the mountain, He passed before him in a cloud and proclaimed; ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children’s children, unto the third and fourth generation.’ (Ex.34:6-7) Oh people, our God is also very patient, and gives us lots of time and rope to either hang ourselves or change our evil ways. And what was Moses’ reaction to the Lord’s proclamation? ‘Moses made haste and bowed his head towards the earth and worshipped.’ (Ex.34:8) Oh Friends, for our own sakes, let’s do like Moses nuh; Praise and worship Him; change our evil ways and acknowledge His glory, for whatever He requires of us, is always for our benefit, in our best interest, not His. Disobedience to God, is one game we’ll never win. Much LOVE!…it’s simple…if yuh doh hear…sometime or other…yuh going to feel…
Oh Friends, this is officially the first day of winter, but you could have fooled me, cause it’s been cold and white with snow for quite some time now. I’m also surprised when I read the scriptures outlining our rebellious attitude towards our Creator and Heavenly Father. It certainly makes me wonder if we have some kind of brain deficiency, a basic defect in our design, or if God just forgot to tighten a screw or something. Our disobedience over the years has been so constant and outrageous, that it boggles the imagination. Today’s Bit is part of Daniel’s prayer for his people, who’d been taken captive from Jerusalem to Babylon for their disobedience. The occasion was the capture of Babylon by the Persians, when Darius, ‘of the seed of the Medes, was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.’ (vs.1) It was such a momentous shift of power that it caused Daniel to search the Word, to see if it bore any significance to his people. He found it in Jeremiah. ‘And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon for seventy years…’ and after ‘that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.’ (Jer.25:11-12) That prophecy must have rattled Daniel, for after the Jews had served Babylon for 70 years, Babylon would be destroyed. What would happen to them? So Daniel set himself to pray for his people, ‘with fasting, and sackcloth and ashes.’ And, in keeping with tradition, he first acknowledged God’s righteousness and supremacy. ‘O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments.’ (vs.4) Then he segued into the wrongs of his people: ‘We have sinned and committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgements.’ (vs.5). And he expands on that in vs. 6-7. In vs.8, he solemnly announces, ‘O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, (shame) to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.’ Then he cleverly throws in; ‘To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him.’ And Daniel could rightfully make that claim because of the numerous times the Lord had mercifully forgiven His chosen people, Israel, their wickedness and self-indulgence. Oh people, the same situation exists today. We’ve been disobedient, evil, and broken all His rules. We’ve either set ourselves up as the final authority, or set other man made gods above Him. But Friends, that’s one thing the Lord will never tolerate. He’s very jealous of His exalted position. So for all our transgressions, we’re now paying a humongous price of worldwide fear, violence, hunger and deprivation from acts of terrorism, strife, war, oppression, greed, economic mismanagement and all the other negatives that are currently besetting us. Like Nehemiah, when he prayed for help for his people to rebuild Jerusalem, he rehashed their sins, however concluded; ‘But thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.’ (Neh.9:17) Yes Friends, that’s the wonderful God we worship. Praise His Holy Name! Why then do we continue disobeying Him? Is it because we know He’ll readily show forgiveness and mercy if we repent? For sure He will! But people, please learn one thing; there will always be a price to pay for our disobedience. Perhaps not as much as we really deserve, for remember, He’s not only a God of mercy and forgiveness, but also of righteousness and justice. That’s why He could not just wipe away our sins, and had to send a righteous, sinless Jesus to die for us, so that justice would appear to be done. How much disobedience do we expect Him to put up with eh? As Bruh David declares; ‘If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?’ Not many of us Friends. ‘But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.’ (Ps.130:3-4) That’s also true, but we’re not meant to take advantage of His goodness and mercy, for the Lord in His own time will make us pay. When He gave the two tablets of stone bearing the Ten Commandments to Moses on the mountain, He passed before him in a cloud and proclaimed; ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children’s children, unto the third and fourth generation.’ (Ex.34:6-7) Oh people, our God is also very patient, and gives us lots of time and rope to either hang ourselves or change our evil ways. And what was Moses’ reaction to the Lord’s proclamation? ‘Moses made haste and bowed his head towards the earth and worshipped.’ (Ex.34:8) Oh Friends, for our own sakes, let’s do like Moses nuh; Praise and worship Him; change our evil ways and acknowledge His glory, for whatever He requires of us, is always for our benefit, in our best interest, not His. Disobedience to God, is one game we’ll never win. Much LOVE!…it’s simple…if yuh doh hear…sometime or other…yuh going to feel…
SCRIP-BITS 