The Word of God for wisdom:
Proverbs 21:2 (NLT)
2 People may be right in their own eyes, but the LORD examines their heart.
The Word of God for inspiration:
Psalm 31:7 (NLT)
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul.
The Word of God for encouragement:
Ezra 9:1-4 (HCSB)
1 After these things had been done, the leaders approached me and said: "The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the surrounding peoples whose detestable practices are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.
2 Indeed, the Israelite men have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has become mixed with the surrounding peoples. The leaders and officials have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness!"
3 When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and robe, pulled out some of the hair from my head and beard, and sat down devastated.
4 Everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me, because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles, while I sat devastated until the evening offering.
1 Corinthians 5:1-7 (HCSB)
1 It is widely reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even [tolerated] among the Gentiles—a man is living with his father's wife.
2 And you are inflated with pride, instead of filled with grief so that he who has committed this act might be removed from your [congregation].
3 For though I am absent in body but present in spirit, I have already decided about the one who has done this thing as though I were present.
4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus with my spirit and with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5 turn that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast permeates the whole batch of dough?
7 Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch. You are indeed unleavened, for Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.
My observation:
It was striking to me that the Old and the New Testament passages from my daily reading dealt with the issue of sin in the camp.
We must learn to take sin as seriously as God takes it. If we fail to, we do so at our own peril. Ezra took sin seriously, and so did the Apostle Paul. I pray that in our churches and in our personal lives, we will not be like the Corinthians; that we will not boast about sin, but that we would weep about our sins against God.
1 Corinthians 5:2 (AMP)
2 And you are proud and arrogant! And you ought rather to mourn (bow in sorrow and in shame) until the person who has done this [shameful] thing is removed from your fellowship and your midst!
My prayer:
Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I pray that your people would humble themselves, and pray like Ezra. Father, I pray that your people would treat sin as seriously as the Apostle Paul. Father God, I thank you that your grace abounds more than our sins when we are willing to turn from them in genuine repentance, and turn to God for deliverance. In Jesus name, Amen.
Ezra 9:6 (NLT)
6 I prayed, "O my God, I am utterly ashamed; I blush to lift up my face to you. For our sins are piled higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached to the heavens.
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1 Corinthians 1:2-3 (HCSB)
2 To God's church at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus and called as saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord—⌊both⌋ their Lord and ours.
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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