Oh Friends, Daniel is not here with us today, but his words of long ago still resonate loudly and clearly in terms of our current situation. In his prayer for his captive people, Israel, he bemoans: ‘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.’ (Dan.9:8) And of a truth my people, our lustful, cruel, ungodly, idolatrous situation certainly mirrors that of Daniel’s time. We have sinned so much against the Lord, that a less magnanimous God would have wiped us out long ago. Indeed my Friends, this is one of the most sinful generations in a long time. Those of recent times did sin, but at least they had some sense of God about them, at least the basics, to know right from wrong, but this generation doesn’t have a clue about God; what He considers good or bad, right or wrong. They just follow the worldly, lustful crowd in doing whatever feels good or right to them. It’s all a flesh based system. The spiritual part of their lives matters not, if they even know about it. But fortunately, or unfortunately, our God has showed and proven His largesse of heart time and time again in Israel’s case. This enabled Daniel to confidently say: ‘To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him.’ And that, my people, is the living truth! There’s no other being in this world that’s as forgiving and merciful as the Lord God Jehovah! How many times could He have totally eradicated His chosen people Israel for their disobedience and rebellion eh? Numerous! But He did not. He allowed them to be captured, enslaved and to endure other forms of punishment, but never annihilation. Nehemiah, in his prayer for God’s mercy and help in his efforts to rebuild Jerusalem, shamefully confessed: ‘But they and our fathers dealt proudly (acted presumptuously or insolently), and hardened their necks (stiffened their necks, became stubborn) and hearkened not (did not heed) thy commandments. And refused to obey, neither were they mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them, but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.’ (Neh.9:16-17) Yes Friends, our God is magnanimous, merciful and forgiving, but we cannot afford to be continually flouting His laws, else someday He’ll just get fed up with our sinful, rebellious behaviour and cause us a whole lot of grief, pain and confusion. We’re already seeing a lot of that in our world today. And sadly, many of us believe that since our God is so nice, we can take advantage of His mercies and get away with it. But Friends, that’s a fallacy, for we’ll all pay, one way or another, sooner or later, for all those grievous hurts we’ve caused our God; the continuous humiliation and disgrace we’ve brought to His Holy Name. Bruh David got it right when he said: ‘But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.’ (Ps.130:4) And Friends, that’s not a scared, trembling in our boots kind of fear, but a healthy fear; one of wonder, astonishment, of respect, of reverential awe. But how many societies today hold the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in such awe and wonder eh? Not too many. Lucifer seems to be more their guiding light. But can Lucifer pardon, or show mercy, or bring lost souls to redemption? Not on yuh life! Why? Oh mih people, because Lucifer is just another fallen angel like us. All he has to offer are worthless earthly trinkets, then death and eternal damnation. However, as Bruh David proudly proclaims: ‘Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy (LOVING-kindness), and with him is plenteous (abundant) redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.’ (Ps.130:7-8) And all God’s people gloriously proclaimed: ‘Praise the Lord God of Hosts for His goodness and mercy to the sinful children of men!’ But Friends, please note that though Bruh David says that the Lord will redeem Israel from all its wrongs, it by no means gives us license, or free rein to keep on doing wrong, for remember the wages of sin is death, and if we recklessly continue to do wrong, at some stage we will pay. Our God’s a great God, but He’s not a pushover. And we don’t call the shots, He does. And He’s decreed, that to get all those benefits, we need to concentrate on Him, not Lucifer; meaning that we seriously need to rein in our rebellious, disobedient attitude. As Isaiah declares: ‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.’ (Is.55:7) Yes Friends, to receive forgiveness and mercy we need to: ‘Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.’ (Is.55:6) My people, our God is always near, but He won’t intrude uninvited into our lives. We need to invite Him in. Bruh David knew this, that’s why he said it so often in his writings. ‘For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy to all them that call upon thee.’ (Ps.86:5) Again Friends, the important part of it all is that we call on the Lord to come into our hearts. And as we try to do whenever possible, we’ll close with the definitive statement on the subject from our Leader and Saviour Jesus Himself. ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup (dine) with him, and he with me.’ (Rev.3:20) There we have it Friends; to get all the good things the Lord has promised, we need to invite His Son Jesus into our hearts and live a life worthy and becoming of His Holy Name. So please, let’s try and improve the godliness quotient in our lives nuh, so that future generations won’t have to write such scathing, but true criticism of us, as Nehemiah and Daniel wrote about their forefathers. Much LOVE!…to know right and do wrong…is worse than doing wrong, not knowing right…
SCRIP-BITS 