Word of Encouragement (11/08/2022)
And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. (Num. 21:7)
The people of Israel confess that they have sinned against the Lord by speaking against Him and His servants, Moses and Aaron. What brought about this confession of sin? Did they feel convicted by the sheer absurdity of what they accused God and his faithful servants of? Often, our thoughts make sense when they are swirling in our minds. But when we verbalize them, we see how ridiculous they sound. That is why I encourage you to be honest when you pray to God and say what is on your mind without decorating it. After all, God hears what you think as well as what you say; nothing is hidden before God, anyway. When you do that and hear yourself say what you have been thinking, you may realize how absurd it is and dismiss that thought. If you don’t, you may hold on to that foolish thought for a long time and who knows how it can harm your relationship with God?
Sadly, what brought about this confession of sin was no such conviction of sin; rather, it was the punishment God had sent against them in the form of venomous serpents. When a person confesses after getting caught, it’s hard not to question his sincerity, isn’t it? In the case of the Israelites, however, what made them confess was not getting caught; they confessed because God was punishing them! Of course, this was better than hardening their hearts and persisting in their rebellion against God. But that would have only made things far worse for them; so many more people might have perished until only a small number survived.
If someone confesses or asks for forgiveness because he is being punished, there is a good chance that what motivates him is the desire to get out of the punishment. We see this a lot in children even though it is not limited to children. We say sorry (sometimes without even knowing what it is that we have done wrong) simply because we want the punishment in whatever form to end. This may bring a temporary resolution, but it will not resolve the problem at hand. We can see that the Israelites’ confession of sin was a childish, superficial kind. Notice what they asked Moses to do. After a vague confession of sin (“we have spoken against the LORD and against you”), they asked Moses to pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from them. You can see what their main concern was: the removal of the serpents. They were ready to say or do anything to get rid of these vipers that were killing them and their families.
What, then, is a proper confession of sin? If they were sincere in their confession, they would have acknowledged the iniquity of their sinful action and expressed their sorrow for it. There would have been a heartfelt agreement with God that what they did was a wicked sin. They would have accepted God’s punishment as just and, as they bore it, humbly asked God for His forgiveness.
Do you confess your sins to God right away when you sin, before you get caught, and before God disciplines you? Do you promptly and properly confess your sins to those, against whom you have sinned? We can do this without fear because we already have the assurance of God’s forgiveness in Jesus Christ. “Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Rom. 8:33-34).