11/30/20 - WHY SHOULD GOD HEAR US?

“And now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of unfailing love, do not let all the hardships we have suffered seem insignificant to you. Great trouble has come upon us and upon our kings and leaders and priests and prophets and ancestors—all of your people—from the days when the kings of Assyria first triumphed over us until now. Every time you punished us you were being just. We have sinned greatly, and you gave us only what we deserved. Our kings, leaders, priests, and ancestors did not obey your Law or listen to the warnings in your commands and laws. Even while they had their own kingdom, they did not serve you, though you showered your goodness on them. You gave them a large, fertile land, but they refused to turn from their wickedness.”

‭‭Nehemiah‬ ‭9:32-35‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Starting to sound familiar? There’s nothing new under the sun. I like to say same book different cover. The Bible says everything recorded in the Old Testament is written for our example. Why? As a warning not to repeat the past mistakes of those who’ve gone before us. But here we are in 2020. Why should God hear us? Because we have decided to pray? How convenient. We have driven Him out of our lives and sanctuaries, we want no part of His Word in our lives. Please don’t mention Jesus, that Name offends even some who claim to be “christians “ so why should He hear us?

God is merciful but He’s not our puppet. Where were these call to prayer and fasting by numerous churches a year ago? Where were the unity marches a year ago? Where were these worship feasts all over our nation a year ago? Where were the so called revivals last year? Nowhere to be found! But now we’re in a crisis and we remember to pray. God is the same in peace time as He is in a crisis. But where were we? The irony is that we want to dictate our terms to God. He’s had His hands outstretched for years, and we ignored Him while we lived however we chose. Now all of a sudden we’ve had an epiphany. This is the Word of the Lord.

“For we are each responsible for our own conduct.

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6:5, 7-8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“I called you so often, but you wouldn’t come. I reached out to you, but you paid no attention. You ignored My advice and rejected the correction I offered. So I will laugh when you are in trouble! I will mock you when disaster overtakes you— when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster engulfs you like a cyclone, and anguish and distress overwhelm you. “When they cry for help, I will not answer. Though they anxiously search for Me, they will not find Me. For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the Lord. They rejected My advice and paid no attention when I corrected them. Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭1:24-31‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Never read those words before? Those who reject the wisdom of God, those who continually spurn the advice God gives, will eat the fruit of their hands and will not have God’s ear. We want to now dictate our terms. We now want Him to show up because we’re “praying.” We now limit any intervention of God, because we have the Holy Spirit on a timer. Our church services are one hour and if God can’t move in our time frame, we move on. Even the so- called prayers of repentance are timed. “Now listen God, we’re doing this for You, we’re going to pray and march for two hours, show up and show the world who you are, remember now God, it’s from 10-12.” You may be laughing or shaking your heads saying, “who does that?!” Hello! The Church does that all the time. But now because of the crisis we’re in, it’s even more evident or haven’t you been paying attention. We’re bombarding heaven. What! Last I checked, heaven was not under siege, God and His angels weren’t in a panic. Earth has a problem- not heaven.

We have reduced God to our level. But He will not be mocked. Where’s the revival? Where’s the move of God we’re crying out for? Where is it? We don’t dictate the terms He does. He has been patient and long suffering with a rebellious nation called America for a long time. Did He send Covid to teach us a lesson? Of course not! Did He allow it? Of course He did! And the church is being proven to find out who we really are. I said to the Lord this morning, “When September 11 happened, churches had to expand to accommodate fear-I mean people. But in a matter of months, everyone went back to their old lifestyle, and the packed pews emptied out.” This time God allowed the doors of the church house to be closed. When they finally opened up you were hard pressed to find the 25% capacity christians. Believers still hunkering down, afraid to go to God’s house, For fear of being exposed, YET, they’re in the supermarkets and wherever else they wanted to go. I said Lord, if in Your mercy, you lifted this plague, You’d be forgotten in a month.

God is not mocked. Our prayers are hitting a brass ceiling because it’s not about acknowledging our sins and the abominable things we have done as a nation and church, it’s about our comfort and conveniences being disturbed. Think about it. Why all these calls for prayer? Is this about personal responsibility before a Holy God? Is this about true repentance for all the blood that has been shed, innocent babies slaughtered every day? Is this about ignoring the principles laid out in God’s Word? Of course not! It’s about our lives returning to normal. But what exactly is normal? The Bible says in Genesis chapter 18 before God destroyed Sodom:

“So the Lord told Abraham, “I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant. I Am going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I have heard. If not, I want to know.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭18:20-21‬ ‭NLT‬‬

That word flagrant implies willful disobedience and disregard for what we know is offensive to God. That’s where we are in America. And unfortunately the church has signed on to this behavior as well. So where do we get off thinking we can just order God through our feigned attempt at piety, to jump and act on our behalf? Who do we think we are? We have neither fear nor reverence for our Holy God. He owes us nothing, we owe Him everything. Now to be fair, there are some who are truly genuinely seeking God’s heart for our nation, I being one of them, but as a whole, the nation does not regard the help of God as a necessity. The governor of New York blatantly stated that it wasn’t God who was helping with the turnaround of Covid, he praised himself. So why should God hear us?

Abraham in the chapter above tried to intercede for Sodom and Gomorrah and even though The Lord promised that He would spare it for as little as 10 righteous, there wasn’t even ten. Most of us know what happened, the city was destroyed. So what about us? Will God find enough of us clothed in His Son’s righteousness to spare our nation? This fear that has gripped our nation and the world, has not brought us to our knees. Open your eyes, have we changed? Absolutely not! God knew even as Abraham was pleading for mercy, that it was a lost cause, Lot and his two daughters barely made it out. I pray that the Lord will have mercy and not allow the destroyer to have his way with us.

This is what the Holy God of heaven through His servant David says the Lord will accept:

The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭51:17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

He doesn’t want our lip service. He knows hearts and motives. He wants true brokenness and repentance. When He hears that, then, and only then, will He hear us. As the church goes, so goes the nation. It’s time for the church to cut the acting and lead by truly repenting of our sins of omission. We have been complicit in the spiritual and moral failures in our nation. God is not pleased. It’s time to repent. There’s a certain sound that God is waiting to hear, and He hasn’t heard it yet. It’s the sound of true repentance. I’ll close with the words of Jesus , applicable for today:

“From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. ”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭4:17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

You know what time it is? 🙏

Written by permission of the Holy Spirit

W. Tennant