SCRIP-BITS

Psalm 78:38.    But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
 
Well a good Saturday morning to all you fine folks out there in Scrip-Bit land! I do hope that all is well, and if it’s not, then that you are holding up admirably under whatever is coming against you.
 
It’s never easy to stand strong when it seems like the whole world is against you, but please remember that as children of God, we are empowered to take the good with the bad, by hanging on tightly to Jesus’ hand and all the faithful promises He’s made us. Our problems escalate when we let go of Jesus’ hand and try to do stuff on our own, or run to some other supposedly wise but very fallible man.
 
Regardless of what it takes Friends, we need to hold on to Jesus, because when we do, He will bring us through safely, and possibly even better off than before. But unfortunately too many of us bail out before Jesus has a chance to work. We want immediate satisfaction, but our Saviour doesn’t always work that way. And that immediate gratification, as now eschewed by modern society, is what tends to get us out of Jesus’ grasp.
 
Oh Friends, our God didn’t promise us an easy life, but He did promise a good and fruitful one. And that doesn’t mean having all our needs and wants met when we desire them to be met.
 
Please remember that we are the servants, and He is the Master. The servants cannot tell the Master what to do or how. He can make requests or recommendations, but it is always the Master’s will that eventually prevails. And until some of us learn that hard lesson, we will never be satisfied with the way our God works, and thus come to a real knowledge of Him.
 
And that is why there was ever need to write our Bit: ‘But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.’
 
Yes Friends, many times the Lord had to control, to withhold His anger towards us for our gross disobedience, and not destroy us, as we full well deserved. Today however, we’re not going to concern ourselves too much with our wrongdoing, but rather look at scriptures which corroborate our Bit.
 
And we’ll begin way back when Moses prayed for God’s presence, and the Lord agreed. (Ex.33:12-23) This was the second time Moses went back up Mt. Sinai to receive the tablets with the Ten Commandments, having broken the first set after coming down from the mount and finding his people celebrating in pagan style and worshipping a golden calf. Moses had been gone only forty days, but the Israelites were so impatient, they did their own thing.
 
Anyway, with Moses standing on Mt. Sinai, the second time, the Good Book declares: ‘And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, 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.34:5-7)
 
Yes Friends, those words were spoken by the Lord Himself, so it’s nothing that mortal man has made up all on his own.  It should thus be a powerful reminder to us that our Lord is wonderful, but He is not a pushover, and He won’t allow us to take advantage of His mercy and LOVING-kindness.
 
The next scripture comes from Numbers, when the Israelites again rebelled against the Lord and He wanted to destroy them, but Moses interceded on their behalf. He reasoned with the Lord that if He destroyed them, ‘then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.
 
And now, I beseech thee, let the power of the Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, the Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
 
Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people, according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.’ (Num.14:15-19)  
 
Oh Friends, I’m chuckling here because Moses ploy of using the Lord’s words back to Him, reminds me of when I was a bachelor, living back in T&T with my Uncle Foster, he would always tell me to do him anything, but don’t give him back his own talk. None of us like others to use what we tell them to later influence our decisions. But that’s exactly what Moses did, and the Lord therefore had no choice but to pardon the Israelites, one more time.
 
And we have space and time for one more scripture, expressing God’s remarkable forgiveness. That comes from the Book of 1 Kings, when Ahab, Israel’s king was on a spree of wickedness, encouraged by his queen, the famous Jezebel. But when the prophet Elijah cornered Ahab and told him of the Lord’s plans to destroy him and his gang of evil doers, Ahab did a 360 degrees turn.
 
The Good Book describes it thus. ‘And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words (of Elijah), that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth and went softly (went about mourning). And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.’ (1 Kin.21:27-29)
 
Ah Friends, you see how gracious, merciful and forgiving our God can be! But remember He’s no pushover, and though He granted mercy to an apparently repentant Ahab, He still intended to destroy the evil doers during the reign of Ahab’s son. And we’ll end with a note from the scholars on Ahab.
 
’21:27-29. Ahab performed the traditional acts of mourning and repentance. Ahab had a complex personality. at times he could respond to divine rebuke and instruction. However, despite God’s long-suffering kindness to him, there is little indication of any spiritual reality in Ahab. God is patient and gracious. (cf. 2 Pet.3:9).’
 
The moral of the story my people, is that God will only pardon for so long, in the face of continued disobedience. So let’s remember that as we go out and try to accomplish His will today. Much LOVE!
 
…surface repentance might bring some relief…but only that which truly comes from the heart will bring everlasting relief…