“But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in the treachery that they committed against me and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies, if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.”
– Leviticus 26:40–42
The whole picture in Leviticus 26:40–42, as God gives his people his law, is the reality that they will disobey it. They know it, God knows it, and yet he’s making a way for his promise and blessing to still be theirs, ultimately through sacrifice for sin that we see in Leviticus all over the place and namely in the day of atonement, but it’s not just sacrifice for sin as if it’s totally outside them.
Leviticus 26:40–42 Reminds Us to Confess Our Sin
What do you need to confess before God right now? Lord, help us to walk in constant confession of sin.
It’s confession of iniquity in their hearts. It’s a humbling, here in Leviticus 26:41, of their hearts before God. It says, “We are sorry for sin, and we hate it. We don’t want to do it. We humble ourselves before you, O God, and we pray that you’d help us to turn from it.” This is a heart that is pleasing to God. Confession is the key that opens the door to blessing from God, humility the key that opens the door to the favor of God. As we think about our Christian lives, may these keys mark us on a daily basis, humble confession, humility and confession.
Leviticus 26:40–42 Leads Us to Pray For God’s Help
Even right now as we pray, O God, search our hearts. What do we need to confess right now before you? I don’t want to leave just tons of empty space on a podcast episode like this, but I would encourage you, when this podcast episode is over, just stay in silence for a moment and let God speak. God, we pray you would show us what needs to be confessed in our hearts right now. Search our hearts, we pray.
Open our eyes to sin that remains in our thoughts and our desires and our words, our actions, our lack of action. God, we pray that you would help us to walk in constant confession of sin whenever we see it, to confess it, not to try to hide it, but to confess it and to run from it.
In humility, O God, we pray for humility. We pray for humble hearts before you. Keep us from prideful hard hearts before you. O God, we want to obey your word. We find ourselves falling short in so many ways. We praise you for your grace in Christ that covers over all of our sin. God, we confess our need for your grace not just to cover over our sin but even to confess our sin, to see it for what it is, to hate it for what it is, and to run from it and to not run back to it. O God, please help us, we pray. We come to you with hearts of confession and humility. Even as this podcast episode closes, open our eyes to areas of confession in our hearts. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
