"What is man, that he could be pure?
And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous?
If God puts no trust in His saints,
And the heavens are not pure in His sight,
How much less man, who is abominable and filthy,
Who drinks iniquity like water!"
-Job 15:14-16
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Good day, ladies...let's seek the Lord:
"Father, today we will study the conviction of sin and why it is there. Lord, I thank You for the conviction of my sins because I know that You are watching me and correcting my path.
I do seek Your forgiveness because I know You will not hear me with sin in my heart. I pray for Your cleansing this day that I may be able to obey You and hear from You. Wash me, purge me, cleanse me, restore me today, Lord, as only You can.
I pray for each lady reading this study today, Lord, as she will be convicted of her sins as well. Please go to her and help her to confess, repent, and obey Your word this day. I pray that You will comfort her and hear her prayers. Be an encouragement to her as she reads Your word today.
In Jesus' name..........amen."
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Laborers for the Harvest
"...who is abominable and filthy, who drinks iniquity like water."
Many of us would love to serve the Lord in ministries of all sorts because we know that is part of what it means to be a Christian. To go to the prisons, the foreign lands, the hospitals, the churches to serve the Lord is a calling many of us have had or do have now.
But we all know that the Lord calls, we do not call Him. And the Lord's timing and calling is perfect. We must wait on Him and not run ahead and look around to see where He is while we wait for Him.
Last study, we looked at the example the Lord gave us:
Phil 2:5-11
I know that when I was involved in ministry at church, I became proud of the ministries I was involved with because it made me feel good. I needed that "good feeling" almost like a painkiller or opium. It helped me forget the troubles I was having in my marriage and with our financial situation.
I felt as though I was being a "good Christian" because I was serving in children's ministry as a teacher, women's ministry as a helper, and prison ministry as a Bible teacher. Wasn't God pleased with me??
No, because He is more pleased with our obedience than with our sacrifice:
1 Sam 15:22-23
So, He must deal with our sin first before He can use us. He is holy above all and cannot use us with sin in our lives not because He is not capable....but because He is holy and perfect and cannot look upon sin.
After Scott was laid off from Fox, he had trouble finding another good paying full time job. Our financial situation was terrible. We fought all the time and put pressure on each other. The stress began to take its toll on our marriage.
I had sin in my life while I was serving the Lord. I was thinking about divorcing my husband, I had fear and anxiety about our financial situation, I was in sin. I was drinking iniquity "like water." I thought I needed it.
As a married couple, we both were sinning because we were in debt up to our eyeballs and not trusting in the Lord. We were misusing the money that belonged to Him. We were in sin.
So, I had to come to the point of confession before the Lord. But He knew I wouldn't willingly do this on my own......so He had to prepare me and work on me. Sort of like a sculptor who has to remove some of the clay with tools that slice away and carve away the unwanted pieces in order to reveal the work of art, the Lord had to slice away and carve away my unwanted pieces.
To begin with, the Lord removed me from the ministries at church for the church's protection (any one living in habitual sin should not be serving in church ministry....) and for my protection because some of the ministries I was involved in were not properly handled and eventually were dissolved because of wrong doing on the church's part.
It was hard to walk away from those ministries that had been such a significant part of my life, but it was necessary. Then, He led us to get counseling. During those counseling sessions, I had to confess my sins to my husband and to the Lord because thinking about divorce and actually desiring it is a sin. Finally, our financial debt had to be dealt with as well and that meant giving up our home and living in an apartment in order to pay off the debt and learn to save and live without debt again.
All this cleansing and purging was not easy. It was extremely painful. My earthen vessel needed to be struck down. But it was necessary if I ever wanted to be used by the Lord again.....and I did.
The hope of the Lord does not disappoint. I know that now:
Rom 5:1-5
I know now that when the Lord is finished peeling away and carving away those unwanted pieces, He does reveal His wonderful work of art. Now I am serving our church once again, but not for my glory or for that "good feeling" that I had once needed in order to fill my empty life.....now I serve because it is for the Lord's glory. And the feeling is more joyful than merely good.
Please read:
Is 6:1-4
Isaiah was a man of God who had very little sin up to this point. He was serving the Lord as a prophet, but the Lord had greater works in store for him. First, the unwanted pieces had to be dealt with:
Is 6:5-7- "Woe is me for I am undone....." This is translated as "destroyed; cut off." When Isaiah is in the presence of a holy God....he is destroyed.
The purging of his sin was painful, no doubt. But it was a necessary pain. Notice that the seraphim flew to Isaiah, not the other way around. We would never come to the Lord for the purging of sin on our own.....but it is the Lord who comes to us.
Is 6: 8-9
But after the purging, the Lord speaks to Isaiah and calls him to service.
It is comforting to see that the same God who worked in Isaiah's life is the same God who worked in my life and works in yours.
Malachi 3:6
He is the same God yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
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John 4:16
"Jesus said to her, 'Go, call your husband, and come here.'"
Jesus spoke to her.
How wonderful that we have such a personal God who speaks to us. But more important is the fact that we should hear His words:
Please read:
Mark 9:7
God knows how important it is for us to hear His words. We must be quiet to hear Him.
1 Thess 4:11
1 Tim 2:1-2
1Pet 3:4
"...Go, call your husband, and come here."
Ouch. That must have hurt.
Of course, these words of Christ must have convicted the Samaritan woman of sin because she knew the truth. She was drinking that iniquity "like water". Like me, she was convinced that she needed it to live. But we know that Jesus is preparing her for His service....for His Living Water.
Just as He dealt with Isaiah's sin, so must He deal with this woman's sin. As Isaiah was destroyed when he came into the presence of the Lord....so must her earthen vessel be "destroyed; cut off" as well.
1 John 1:9
But we serve a faithful and righteous God.
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Life Application
Like the seraphim who flew to Isaiah, the Lord comes to the woman at the well to deal with her sinful life. She had probably thought her life was ok.....as I did for a time.....but the Lord was about to show her the Greatest life was still ahead for her.
Please read 1 John 1:9 again.
The word, "confess" is from the Greek word "homologeo" which means to assent; agree; promise.
Here we are told that if we "agree" with God that we are in sin and have sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.
It is not an easy thing to come before a holy God and confess or agree with Him that we are sinners. We are destroyed; cut off; struck down. I know, it hurts.
Psalm 51
Notice all those verbs and commands: Have mercy.....blot out.....wash me......cleanse me.....purge me....make me....create in me.....restore me......uphold me.....deliver me......
This is an amazing psalm of repentance. You can read the mournful emotions of David as he confesses. He is destroyed before his God. When you have trouble confessing, read this psalm to the Lord. It will change your prayer life forever.
There is alot to praise the Lord for today:
John 3:36
We have been saved from the wrath of God.
Ro 1:18
Take time today to thank the Lord for His conviction of your sins. Praise Him that He is preparing you to be used in His ministries. Praise Him for carving away those unwanted pieces daily. Praise Him for His holiness and for breaking your earthen vessel. Thank Him for the forgiveness of your sins.....and the atonement or price that was paid for your sins: His death on the cross.
Finally, praise Him for conquering death once and for all that you may live.
Come into His presence today.....and be struck down.
2 Cor 4:7-11
Let your earthen vessel be struck down, but not destroyed.
Praise Him indeed.
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Until next time............
"When I get into the presence of God, I do not realize that I am a sinner in an indefinite sense; I realize the concentration of sin in a particular feature of my life. A man will say easily- 'Oh yes, I know I am a sinner'; but when he gets into the presence of God he cannot get off with that statement. The conviction is concentrated on- I am this, or that, ot the others. This is always the sign that a man or woman is in the presence of God. There is never any vague sense of sin, but the concentration of sin in some personal particular. God begins by convicting us of the one thing fixed on in the mind that is prompted bu His Spirit; if we will yield to His conviction on that point, He will lead us down to the great disposition of sin underneath. That is the way God always deals with us when we are consciously in His presence."
-Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest, 1935, July 3)
Blessings,
Ruth
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