April 11
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. 3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men… 7 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. 8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. 9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. Psalms 90:1-3; 7-9 (KJV)
Beloved, when you are at the across road of life, what comes to your mind? How do you handle changes that seems to torn you apart. These are critical moments in life and the way it is handle may make or mar your walk in life. It is so important to prepare for a rainy day which we are meant to believe that is only “financials”. Dear friend, it is more than money. It is everything about you; it is YOU.
In Prov. 4: 23, the Lord instructed us to “keep our heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life”. What are those life boggling issues that you are battling with right now? The challenges that are weighing you down from the inside? Those things you used to do that you wants to do no more? Those places and persons that always allure you away from your Saviour?
Come, the Lord is inviting you to the throne of mercy to receive forgiveness. Do not allow this period (lent) to go without repenting from those sins blocking you from free access to the throne and freedom from sin. Come “look and live”:
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.” Num. 21:8
This is a glorious gospel type. Jesus, numbered with the transgressors, hangs before us on the cross. A look to Him will heal us of the serpent-bite of sin; will heal us at once- ‘When he looketh upon it, he shall live.” Let the reader who is mourning his sinfulness note the words — “Everyone that looketh upon it shall live.” Every looker will find this true. I have found it so. I looked to Jesus and lived at once. I know I did. Reader, if you look to Jesus you will live too. True, you are swelling with the venom, and you see no hope. True, also there is no hope but this one. But this is no doubtful cure — “Everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.”
The brazen serpent was not lifted up as a curiosity to be gazed upon by the healthy; but its special purpose was for those who were “bitten.” Jesus died as a real Saviour for real sinners. Whether the bite has made you a drunkard, or a thief, or an unchaste or a profane person, a look at the Great Saviour will heal you of these diseases, and make you live in holiness and communion with God. Look and live.
What do think about the petition below? Many of us wants our burdens removed but not our sin. It is not so with God, that is not His desires for us. Come and hear the psalmist plea and that should ours too.
“Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.” Psalm 25:18
It is well for us when prayers about our sorrows are linked with pleas concerning our sins—when, being under God’s hand, we are not wholly taken up with our pain, but remember our offences against God. It is well, also, to take both sorrow and sin to the same place. It was to God that David carried his sorrow: it was to God that David confessed his sin. Observe, then, we must take our sorrows to God. Even your little sorrows you may roll upon God, for He counteth the hairs of your head; and your great sorrows you may commit to Him, for He holdeth the ocean in the hollow of His hand.
Go to Him, whatever your present trouble may be, and you shall find Him able and willing to relieve you. But we must take our sins to God too. We must carry them to the cross, that the blood may fall upon them, to purge away their guilt, and to destroy their defiling power.
The special lesson of the text is this:—that we are to go to the Lord with sorrows and with sins in the right spirit. Note that all David asks concerning his sorrow is, “Look upon mine affliction and my pain;” but the next petition is vastly more express, definite, decided, plain—”Forgive all my sins” Many sufferers would have put it, “Remove my affliction and my pain, and look at my sins.”
But David does not say so; he cries, “Lord, as for my affliction and my pain, I will not dictate to Thy wisdom. Lord, look at them, I will leave them to Thee, I should be glad to have my pain removed, but do as Thou wilt; but as for my sins, Lord, I know what I want with them; I must have them forgiven; I cannot endure to lie under their curse for a moment.”
A Christian counts sorrow lighter in the scale than sin; he can bear that his troubles should continue, but he cannot support the burden of his transgressions.Want to repent of your sins, please click here .
Our plea today should be, that these burdens of sins be removed so also our sorrow too. May we receive grace to weigh our wrong doings right before our Maker.
Have a wonderful weekend ahead and let’s keep a date on Monday by His grace of God.
Remain blessed in the Lord.
Evang. Ifeoma Ohondu
