{"id":711,"date":"2018-06-24T08:00:59","date_gmt":"2018-06-24T13:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/?p=711"},"modified":"2018-06-23T21:12:09","modified_gmt":"2018-06-24T02:12:09","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-keeping-fervor-in-repentance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/2018\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-keeping-fervor-in-repentance\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about keeping fervor in repentance?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cIf You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope.\u201d Psalm\u00a0130:3\u20135<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sincere repentance may retain its intensity for a moment but, as with all human endeavor, the good start is squandered by distraction, laziness, and \u201cthe next thing.\u201d What was once white hot devotion forged in trial, fades in the quenching waters of lust and life.<\/p>\n

Psalm\u00a0130 is one of the seven penitential psalms (Psalms\u00a06, 32, 38, 51, 102, and 143). It is also post-exilic in that it has thematic components that sound like Nehemiah\u00a01. Because it is a psalm of ascents, it is comfortably understood as a psalm written by a godly man, serious in his worship of Jehovah, and concerned to keep his heart focused on repentance. Not only is it an extremely personal psalm but it is also a nationwide call to the faithful to redouble their effort to walk with God.<\/p>\n

The general theme of the psalm is \u201cJehovah forgives,\u201d and balances three ideas: continuing consequence of sin, confession of guilt, and confidence in God. A simple outline for the psalm could be: My Need (verses 1f), My Fearful Thought (verse\u00a03), My Fondest Hope (verse\u00a04), My Faith in Action (verses\u00a05f), and My Life\u2019s Message (verses\u00a07f).<\/p>\n

The psalmist begins with an urgent expression of his need. \u201cOut of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD; Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.\u201d His cry goes up before the presence of Jehovah (the covenant-keeping God), and then he keeps on praying. The verb is in the perfect tense which means \u201cto have cried\u201d and \u201cwill cry.\u201d Where the psalmist sees himself is down in the depths. This is a word which is very rich in Old Testament meaning.<\/p>\n

David writes in Psalm\u00a040:2, \u201cHe also brought me up out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.\u201d Again in Psalm\u00a069:2 and 14 he writes, \u201cI sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me?\u2026?. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink?\u2026?.\u201d Then, in Isaiah\u00a051:10, God\u2019s seminal care of His own is described: \u201cAre You not the One who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that made the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to cross over?\u201d The psalmist knows there is only one hope for his sinful soul\u2019s need and the covenant-keeping God is worthy of his hope. MacLaren says, \u201cIf out of the depths we cry, we shall cry ourselves out of the depths.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verse\u00a02 serves as a transition from an upward cry for help to an inward focus on the psalmist\u2019s sense of unworthiness. He uses \u201cLord,\u201d the term for Master: Adonai. The verse seems to have a tone of doubt, as is always the case of a saint who focuses on his own resources, efforts, and history.<\/p>\n

From \u201cmy need,\u201d the psalmist moves on to \u201cmy fearful thought.\u201d Verse\u00a03 reads, \u201cIf You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand.\u201d To mark is to keep account. What a fearful thing it is to consider the truth that God does, indeed, keep account of sin! Before the Holy God no sinner can stand (survive, endure) on his own. God calls people to account for their sin. This fact never escapes the spiritually-minded man, even though he is forgiven by the grace of God! It is this default setting of humility and conscious dependence upon God\u2019s mercy that prepares the saint to consider the meaning of verse\u00a04.<\/p>\n

From my fearful thought to my fondest hope: \u201cBut there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.\u201d Essentially, the psalmist is saying, \u201cYours is the power to forgive, not to be presumed upon.\u201d His statement reveals a true-hearted craving for pardon from God so that he may be spared. In keeping with other Scriptures (Nehemiah\u00a09:17, Isaiah\u00a055:7), Daniel\u00a09:9 states, \u201cTo the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws?\u2026?.\u201d An \u201cold Welshman\u201d is quoted as praying, \u201cO Lord, we thank Thee that there is forgiveness with Thee?\u2026?enough to frighten us.\u201d Repentance is always best kept fresh by refocusing on the biblical view of our need and the biblical view of God\u2019s matchless grace.<\/p>\n

With a fresh, awe-inspiring audience with God under his belt, the psalmist puts faith into action with a complete resignation of his soul into the hands of God. Faith always has an object upon which it rests. Four times the author says he waits on the LORD. Verse\u00a05 underscores his heartfelt faith effectively saying, \u201cIn astonished awe, I await His word.\u201d He is echoing the words of Jeremiah from Lamentations\u00a03:25f: \u201cThe LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you want to keep your repentance fresh, begin each day by rekindling an appreciation for God\u2019s favor extended to undeserving you! Trust and obey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope.\u201d Psalm\u00a0130:3\u20135 Sincere repentance may retain its intensity for a moment but, as with all human endeavor, the good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}