2 February 2016

Scripture:

• Psalm 32
• Genesis 29:1-30
• 2 Chronicles 6
• Luke 22:47-23:25

Observations:

In the psalm, we see David encouraging readers/listeners to confess their sins to God in faith, asking for his forgiveness.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity;I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

In these first five verses, we see David proclaiming how those who keep a clean slate before the Lord, openly bringing their sins in confession, are blessed. As an explanation, he describes the weight and agony that accompany holding on to sin and concealing our wrongdoing before God before describing the release and freedom given by God when we do come and repent.

In Genesis, we see Jacob working for Laban to marry his daughter Rachel. We also see Laban's duplicity in marrying her older sister, Leah, to him first, citing local custom.

In 2 Chronicles, we see Solomon addressing the people at the temple opening, reminding them of what God has done in the past and what let to the building of the temple. We also see him offering a (rather long) prayer to God commissioning the temple for his use. A large portion of Solomon's prayer, I find it interesting to note, deal with God interacting with Israelites and others who call on his name. Solomon is asking that those who have sinned and are experiencing punishment, if they confess their sins and seek forgiveness, be forgiven and, in some cases, their punishment brought to an end.

In Luke, we have the events leading from Jesus' betrayal and capture to Pilate handing Jesus over to the Sanhedrin to do with as they wished. What I find interesting is that the Sanhedrin, already infuriated with Jesus, found him guilty of blasphemy for calling himself God. Perhaps if they stopped to consider the scripture instead of their assumptions, they may have come to a different conclusion. Nevertheless, they did not have the power to execute Jesus, so they took him to Pilate under a contrived claim (somewhat feasible) that he was attempting to usurp Caesar, calling himself the "King of the Jews". Pilate found nothing wrong with him and sent him to Herod, who found nothing wrong with him and sent him back to Pilate, who reiterated that they saw no reason to execute him. The Sanhedrin, then basically bullied him into releasing a death row convict and putting Jesus in his place.

It's funny how it was the religious leaders who put Jesus to death. The government had very little to do with it.

Application:

Confession and forgiveness.

Too often, I merely ask God for help in managing or overcoming my sins. That's all well and good, but I need the humility that comes with confession. My pride in assuming that trying to overcome my sin means I am repentant is offensive to God. Just because I ask for help to overcome sin, doesn't mean I am contrite and repentant over it. Just because I am angry or irritated at my sin and do not desire any part of it, it doesn't mean I am repentant.

However, if I am repentant, I try to overcome my sin, ask for help, feel anger and antipathy towards my sin, and desire to be rid of it.

Remember the logical fallacy:
A --> B
B :. A

Just because the manifestations produced by a specific mindset are present, it doesn't mean the mindset itself is there.