A Confession

I remember back as a child growing up in a small “country” church. We only had about 4 dedicated men in our church. At the end of every service, my dad would call on one of them to lead us in the benediction. Any time he called on Clifford, my brother and I would go, “Noooooo…not Clifford!” and then proceed to sit down. Why? Because this man prayed the same prayerEVERY time….and it was one very LONG prayer!! Poor Clifford has been gone for a long time now, but I could almost to this day still quote his prayers. You know the types of prayers I am talking about. The kind where you could almost repeat it word for word after you’ve heard it said so many times-the same way, the same words, the same order. Repetitious, robotic, and sometimes, just words said to be saying something. I don’t pretend to know why Clifford prayed that same prayer all the time, but I shared this example with the ladies in my Sunday School class to examine ourselves as we approach Nehemiah chapter 9. (We have been studying the entire book since August.) Did you know the prayer listed here in this chapter is the longest prayer in all of scripture? I shared with them that I hoped it would not just be another long prayer. It’s so much more than words on a page. It’s actually a focus on confession and repentance. Something God has completely convicted and taught new to this teacher as I typed this morning to them just a prelude to our lesson tomorrow.

When’s the last time you spent time in prayer with God confessing your sins? Naming them and taking ownership for them? How often do our prayers of confession exist only in the robotic statement of “Forgive me Lord for all my sins”? Or how about “Lord, if I’ve done anything to offend You, I am so sorry. Please forgive me.” ? Maybe genuinely intended to be confession. But is it? Let’s put this into a reality perspective now. Let’s say you and I had a rough week this week. Let’s say we sinned against the person we love the most. For you, maybe that’s a husband, parent, child, coworker, or best friend. Getting even more detailed, let’s name those sins-- lying, outbursts of anger, a bitter attitude, gossip-aka “sharing your heart”, impure thoughts, lack of love, and the list could go on. Now, go back to that one you love the most cause you’ve committed these sins against him/her. After committing those sins against that person, how do you think it would go if you just looked at them and said, “Ok, so forgive me for all my sins.” Or “Well, if I’ve done anything to offend you, I’m sorry. Just forgive me.”

Really? Would we ever be so rude and inconsiderate? Shouldn’t we be mourning what we’ve done to offend the one we love the most? Shouldn’t our sin cause us grief? Tear us up? Burden our hearts? Shouldn’t we be taking responsibility and ownership for what we’ve done to the one we love the most?

As I wrote to my ladies, I had just spent the previous hour and a half pouring out to my God specific sins I had to name and then honestly sought His face. You see, I struggled with this passage and how to teach it all week long. Each day, I’d come to read through it, pour over commentaries, look through Bible dictionaries, and still think, “I don’t know HOW I’m supposed to teach this, Lord.” This morning, He woke me early to show me just how. By reading it and applying it in my OWN life. Sin in our life can be so easily covered up –some of it’s known, some of it’s unknown until we come before God asking Him to bring to mind anything we’ve not yet recognized as sin. Oh, we can be good at praying for things, for one another, and for situations. But sin? That’s so easily overlooked by us…..but not by God. Sure, HE is faithful and just to forgive us, but how often do we overlook the first part of that verse? “IF WE CONFESS OUR SIN…. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. Once again, we are so guilty of picking parts of Scripture that we want to claim, and leaving the tough parts behind. We become our own god every time we do that.

God’s Word is not intended for us just to receive it, but to reproduce it. So often, we think to ourselves, “What can I get out of this?” I am being challenged along with many others in our church right now by reading the book Radical by David Platt, and therefore, I want to challenge you, ladies. What if we changed the question whenever we gathered to hear God’s Word? What if we began to think, “How can I listen and read His Word so that I am equipped to teach this Word to others?” Doesn’t that change everything? You and I have a responsibility once we’ve heard the Word, and it’s to apply it to our lives, then go share it and teach it to others. Even if your gift is not teaching, you are accountable for what you’ve heard, not only for yourself, but as a DISCIPLE of Christ. The Word is never intended to stop with you. It’s intended to spread through you. Let’s approach the study of the Word of God tomorrow-and every time-with that attitude. How much more hungry would we come? How much more attentive would we be if we knew we were responsible for the Word we hear?