Israel Confessed Their Sins (1 Samuel 7:5-6)

5/1/2010 8:44 AM

 

SPIRITURAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  They confessed their sins

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  1Samuel 7:5-6

 

            Message of the Verses:  “5  Then Samuel said, "Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the LORD for you." 6  They gathered to Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah.”

            Samuel wanted the people to see that they had sinned and that is why things were not going well for them. They had to get their spiritual life right with the Lord in order for them to be blessed by the Lord. Dr. Wiersbe points out that this could have happened during the Feast of Tabernacles because they poured out water which became a tradition with Israel due to the fact that the Lord had provided water for them during their time in the wilderness.  This can also be seen in John 7:37-39, “37 ¶  Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38  "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ’From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’" 39  But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

            Dr. Wiersbe writes the following in his commentary on this portion of Scripture, “It wasn’t enough just to destroy their idols; the people also had to confess their sins and surrender themselves to the Lord.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Sin is a heart issue and it is the heart that God deals with which is something that the OT sacrifices did not cover for David writes about this issue in Psalm 51, which was along with Psalm 32 were written after his sin with Bathsheba.  He writes “16  For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. 17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” 

            The idols in my life have to be dealt with through confession and doing something that will help me rid myself of the temptation of going back to them and this is something that I truly want to do, but as of yet have not had the courage to do it.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Take the next step in my dealing with the idols in my life.

 

5/1/2010 9:07 AM