Today we begin with the third part of the Levites’ prayer.
3. An appeal for God’s mercy in the present distress (vv. 32-37). As the litany of the people’s sins has built to a climax, so have the repeated affirmations of God’s patience, goodness and mercy. It is to these blessed characteristics of God that the final section of the prayer now makes eloquent appeal.
Do you feel the need to confess your sin to God? If so, the prayer of the Levites in Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah is a model confession. It is how to find spiritual blessing again.
What do we need to do? The answer is no mystery. Second Chronicles 7:14 states it clearly: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” These are the steps to God’s blessing.
1. We must humble ourselves. By nature we are not humble. We are proud and feel a need for nothing. It is only when we come before God that we are genuinely humbled, for it is then, and then only, that we see ourselves as the sinful and rebellious creatures we really are.
2. We must pray. We do not naturally pray either. Why? Because we believe we are self-sufficient. This is why God often has to bring us very low. It is often only in the depths of life, when everything is crumbling around us, that we are willing to turn from ourselves to God and ask Him for the help we need.
3. We must seek God’s face. To seek God’s face means to seek His favor, rather than the favor of the world around us, and to seek His will rather than our own. To seek God’s face means a radical change in the use of our time, talents, resources and our lifestyle.
4. We must turn from our wicked ways. If we do not think we have wicked ways, we will not turn from them—and we are fooling ourselves. But when God brings the reality of our sin home to us, we will find ourselves distressed by sin and unwilling to rest until we confess it to God, find His forgiveness and turn from everything that is displeasing to Him. Everything! Not just the “great” sins. Not just the sins that have obviously gotten us into trouble or that offend others. All sins. God does not ask for fifty percent of what we are or look only for sixty percent (or seventy percent) righteousness. He wants all of us, and He insists on genuine holiness. We cannot serve God and sin too.
Is it hard to repent? It certainly is! Nothing is harder or goes more against the grain of our sinful natures. But it is necessary for personal happiness and God’s blessing. The promise is that, if we will repent of our sins, then God will hear from heaven (He never turns a deaf ear to the repentant), forgive our sin (how much we need it) and heal our land.
