Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, “Return faithless Israel” declares the Lord. “I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful.” Declares the Lord. “I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt that you rebelled against the Lord your God, and scattered your favors among foreigners, under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice.” Declares the Lord.
– Jeremiah 3:12–13
Do you hear the heart of God in those words for his people, for all people that we see all over Scripture? He is just and holy.
Jeremiah 3:12–13 encourages us to confess our sins before God.
God hates sin and all of its effects, and yet he looks upon sinful people, not in anger, but with mercy. “I am merciful.” Declares the Lord. Only acknowledge your guilt that you rebelled against the Lord your God. This is the avenue through which we experience the mercy of God, acknowledgment of guilt and sin, and confession of our need for his mercy. This is obviously the essence of salvation from sin, which starts with confession of sin and continues in the Christian life as we are being saved from sin. Obviously, we know all who trusted in Jesus as Savior and Lord of our life, that he has paid the ultimate price of sin for us, death. That we don’t have to fear death because we know we have eternal life through the forgiveness of our sins, through Jesus’ death and resurrection from the grave.
At the same time, we still struggle with sin, with ongoing present sin in our lives, in this world. As a result, we need to have a regular pattern of acknowledging our guilt, and our sin before God.
Jeremiah 3:12–13 encourages us to be intentional in examining our lives.
I’ll just encourage you, maybe after this podcast is over, spend a moment in confession of sin and acknowledgement of guilt just praying that God would open your eyes to anything in your life right now, anything over the last day, week, month, however long has not been pleasing to him. Anything you are doing that he has called you not to do or anything you are not doing that he has called you to do, examine your heart, your mind, your motives, your words, your actions, your relationships.
God, we pray right now, just search us. Help us to see sin in our lives as you see it, and to realize that you are merciful. Think of 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, you’re faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God help us then not to fear confession of sin or not to put it off or ignore it. God, help us to be quick, to confess sin in our lives, and intentional to examine our hearts and our minds, every facet of our lives for sin in us. Knowing that you are merciful, knowing that you are ready to forgive, and oh God, we don’t take that for granted. We praise you in your holiness for your mercy. In your justice, for your mercy.
This verse reminds us that thanks to Jesus, we can receive mercy.
Jesus, thank you. We praise you all over again today for paying the price for our sin on the cross, for rising from the dead. You are our Savior. You are our Lord. We praise you for your mercy toward us. Oh, God, so help us not in any way to hide sin as if we could hide it from you or to continue in sin when you have made the way for our forgiveness and our freedom from it. Oh God, we do pray that you would help us today to share this good news with somebody else, the good news of forgiveness of sin before God, the good news of the mercy of God. God help us to share the gospel with somebody around us today
Prayer for the Musi People
We pray for the spread of this gospel all around the world.
God, we pray for the Musi people of Indonesia today. Or, for 700,000 Musi Muslims who have a whole culture where to be Musi is to be Muslim, and they’re so resistant to the gospel, to any message apart from Islam coming into their tribe, into their families, their communities. God, we pray that you’d break down walls and cause the good news of your mercy in Jesus to spread among the Musi of Indonesia so that they might be reached with your mercy. God, please may it be so. We pray all this according to your Word in Jeremiah 3:12–13, and we pray that if we have some time after this, you would lead us by your Spirit into confession of sin and receiving of your mercy all over again in Jesus, 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.
