Mournful Repentance

Verse of the day: Exodus 33:5-6 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you.’” 6 So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.

Yesterday we spoke relative to dealing with the sins of others. Today, I would like us to consider we deal with our own moments of sinful behavior. We see something take place in the hearts of this stiff-necked people that breaks them for the moment. What was it? When three thousands of their own people were killed, we do not read that anyone mourns. I believe that they were so fearful of suffering the same consequence that mourning was the furthest thing from their minds. However, here we see them finally reach a place where they are truly mourning for what they have done. What caused them to finally feel penitent for their actions? Here were a people whom God knew would refuse to bow to the authority of His Law. Though they took the step to stand with Moses when he called them to make a choice as to whether or not they would stand with the Lord (32:26), God still knew their hearts. We may see people’s actions, and we may fool people with ours, but God sees far beyond their actions, and ours, right to the heart. Proverbs 21:2 tells us that, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts.” God was not fooled by their feeble actions. Even though He spared them, He was not done dealing with them. Those that He spared were about to encounter the fear of experiencing the worst thing any one of us, as God’s children could experience, should God choose to do this to us. They were to leave Mount Sinai without constructing the Tabernacle, which was where He would dwell in their midst, and go ahead to the Promise Land, which one would think was a great thing that God is still going to do for them in spite of the sinfulness of their hearts, but they are to go forward with God not being in their midst. The thought of God not going with them, and His sending an angel in His stead, was a devastating consequence for their hardened hearts! It is now that we see true mourning taking place amongst the people. God has now addressed them using a shameful term, “a stiff-necked people”, and has threatened to no longer walk among them. This, my fellow brothers and sisters, is what true mourning over our sin is supposed to be. Jesus said in Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” James wrote, in James 4:8-10, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” So often, like the Israelites when the three thousand fell, we mourn not because of what we did, but because of the consequences that came out of, or could come out of, what we did. We do not confess on the basis of how God sees our sin, or how it affects our relationship with Him; instead, we regret losing something that is dear to us here and now (a girlfriend, boyfriend, spouse, relationship with a family member or friend, or material loss). There is no real thought for the eternal consequences or the spiritual affect our sin has on us and those around us, and most importantly, how God sees it. True mourning is being remorseful because we have first sinned against God Himself, and as a result have hindered our walk with Him. Unlike the Israelites, we have God’s promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us, as we are indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 13:5; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Ephesians 1:13); however, God will go silent in our lives, and that is the emptiest and loneliest thing a child of God can experience in his/her walk with God. This, my brothers and sisters, is what should cause us great mourning over our own sinfulness. God required one thing of them to outwardly display their mourning; they were to remove any ornaments that they would normally wear, as a sign of their remorsefulness. If they could use their ornaments to contribute to their sinfulness in the making of the golden calf, then they could do without them as an outward sign of their inward mournfulness. The worst thing that the Israelites could experience in the wilderness was to forfeit God’s presence in their midst. Do we truly feel that way today? Do we even give a second thought to how our sin affects our relationship with God? If we are to truly come to repentance and confession when we sin, then the first, and greatest, consideration needs to be, “How does this affect my relationship with my Lord and Savior?” Only then will we find true forgiveness, comfort, and renewed fellowship with God, after our moments of stumbling.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).