Humility Brings Grace

 

“Confession is good for the soul.” The words are not in the Bible but clearly, a biblical principle of confession being required for forgiveness is pretty well understood by most Christians. When we are forgiven we should feel free to give up the guilt we may have been living with for a time.

But confession also has another biblical meaning. There is the confession of our faith which is important for any Christian. Look at Romans 10:8-9:

 But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (NKJV).

Both a confession of sin and a confession of faith require that we come to agreement with God. First about who we are and our need for a Savior so we can be saved and, second, that we agree that our faith in this Savior (Jesus Christ) is the gift from God that saves us.

Lately, there are some social media posts asking that we repeat some simple prayer. One said, “Everybody flood our timeline with: Lord please heal our world. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

No confession that we have not listened to Him and have defied His Word. No repentance for the murder of babies in their mothers’ wombs. No seeking reconciliation with the God we have thrown out of the public square. The thinking seems to be that if enough of us pray this prayer, God will have to listen to our “many words” (Matthew 6:7).

This a proud prayer. The pray-ers of this prayer are telling God what to do. It adds “please” to make it sound good but it doesn’t address how we got here. The world needs to be healed because we have forgotten God. Is there any evidence that we acknowledge Him as our King?

We have seen the many divisions our nation is facing: by color, politics, religious beliefs, medical preferences, and sillier things like preachers and podcasters that we follow! But, the greatest division we have that we have failed to humble ourselves and acknowledge is the way we have divorced ourselves from the Word of God. And now we wonder why the Lord would pass judgment on us. Sigh.

There are some bold Christians on social media platforms that present biblical truth.  But, I fear that the bulk of American Christians stopped studying the Old Testament scriptures many years ago and this has thus truncated our understanding of God. The God who divorced Israel – His own people – because they would not listen to Him has been lost in history. The Gracious God, who heard their cries for forgiveness (when they saw His judgment) and did forgive them for centuries, is considered a harsh God because He finally decided He had to teach them the hard way and send them into captivity. He was patient, forgiving, and His love was steadfast (even during the exile) but they repeatedly fell back into sin.

This God is our God. This God of grace and mercy who responds to the humble prayers of His people.

Just today there was a prayer of repentance and crying out to God that I saw a bold Christian friend had put up. It was encouraging us to see this accurate picture of what our stance should be in these days, listing our national sin against the Most High God. Not a chain-letter prayer, but a prayer of humility, repentance, and an earnest seeking of God’s mercy.

Will we humble ourselves and pray a prayer of confession and repentance? Because God is gracious, it will be good for our souls.