Sometimes the thought of God's mercy is overwhelming. It's commonly understood that God wants His followers to have clean hands and a pure heart. Psalm 15 is very clear that people with clean hands (blameless lives) and pure hearts are the only ones who may dwell in His presence. No amount of religious activities or strange practices are going to do anything to bring us closer to Him. It follows, then, that people without blameless lives and pure hearts are not honored by the Lord's presence.
King Ahab's problem in 1 Kings 29 is that his hands were unclean and his heart was impure. Verse 25 says that no one else in his time sold himself to evil like Ahab did. Ahab and Jezebel worshipped many other gods (and not the God at all), killed people to get what they wanted, threatened and killed God's prophets just for being God's prophets, and the list goes on. The Lord had it when Jezebel sent people to lie about Naboth so that the people would stone him. Then Ahab went and claimed Naboth's vineyard for himself, since Naboth wouldn't give in to the king's covetousness while he was alive.
I am no judge of people and won't say that Ahab and Jezebel deserved to die, but they were certainly a miserable lot whose hands were dirtier than the famed Lady MacBeth and whose hearts followed only evil. It's understandable that the Lord would send His prophet with such a foreboding message.
Interestingly, for the first time in his life and among the line of kings of Israel's history, Ahab repented. Truly repented. He fasted and mourned for the loss of his life at God's hands. Instead of trying to control God, he literally regretted his evil activities and humbled himself. God told Elijah that He noticed how Ahab humbled himself in repentance and would not destroy Ahab himself. His dynasty would still come to an end, but the Lord chose to honor Ahab.
Why would He do that? He'd do that because the Lord is incredibly merciful. He takes no joy in destroying people. He loved Ahab. The destruction of Ahab's dynasty was prophecied because evil would be destroyed with the dynasty. Yet, when Ahab turned from his wickedness, God had mercy on the man. This is good news for us. Many of us have lived lives with unclean hands and impure hearts. Even some of us who call ourselves Christians look in the mirror and know we have impurity in our hearts. We don't need to be afraid of God when we notice it; instead we need to acknowledge the impurity for what it is and repent. Repentance is not a magic trick to win God's favor, but His mercy (linked, of course, to His boundless, perfect, eternal love - see yesterday's post) endures forever. True repentance only comes out of a person who's humble enough to tear our clothing, put on burlap, fast, and mourn for our spiritual condition - metaphorically or physically. God will be merciful, giving you a new heart and washing you cleaner than newly fallen snow!
2 comments:
Wow Lynn.
Reading that was sort of painful. I'm in this place of complete brokeness right now and its like spiritual vertigo. I was talking to a friend of mine last night about my spirituality- what I think is right and wrong. In many people's eyes I'm way to liberal... Scary thought huh? I've become so sick of being complacent, bored and lukewarm. I've truly lost sight of every goal I ever had, I lost sight of who Christ was, and what he meant to me. I actually wasn't sure if I wanted God to be a part of my life. Looking in a mirror, I don't see what everyone else see's. I don't see a future, I don't see hope or love. What I see is something out of control, destruction, despair, a person without hope... (I'm like crying right now)--This post just made me realize that I've started all over, I had to. I wasnt sure what decisions were mine and what ones were made for me... things that I needed to figure out. To define my own faith.
That's powerful, Melissa! Realizing we're poor in spirit is a very humbling thing. It's pretty hard to look in the mirror for so long, thinking we're spiritual leaders, only to realize that we're spiritually confused in the end.
So often, it's our thoughts and actions when we look in the mirror that makes everything so hard. We take so much time looking at ourselves, working on projecting a particular image, that we lose sight of the One who is faithful to complete the work He began in us. Too often we assume the work is up to us alone. After all, we're spiritually solid, right?
Wrong. Even the best of people cannot do it alone. That's why Colossians 3 tells us to put off the garments of our old selves and take on the garments of praise and love. Being clothed in love beneath our armor of God will make a lot of difference.
I really appreciate your humility because I'm convinced that you're not alone. You aren't the only one who has needed a fresh start. You're not the only one whose time in front of the mirror needs to be spent looking through God's eyes. May your time in front of the mirror today reveal 1) who God wants you to be and 2) the choices for God that will help you get there!
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