© 2022 Don Pinson | [Download]
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The winter of 1623 had been especially hard for the Pilgrims. At one point they had been reduced to five kernels of corn per person, per day. That’s right; only five kernels of corn each day to live on! Somehow, they had survived. Spring finally came and they anxiously planted their crops. They now had great hopes of having a good harvest and storing it up to avoid hardship this coming winter.
But then, the rain stopped. Twelve weeks would go by with hardly any rain at all. They finally realized God was trying to get their attention. They called for a day of fasting and prayer to seek God’s face to find out the cause of the drought. They worshiped and prayed earnestly for God to show them their sin. As He did, they began to confess their wrongs toward Him and toward one another. As they honestly opened their hearts and revealed selfish attitudes toward a neighbor and ask them to forgive them, the joy began to flow. They knew they were meeting with God and He was pleased with their confessions to Him—and to one another. It was then they simply asked Him to let the rain return.
When they left the meeting house that afternoon about 5 p.m., the clouds had already gathered on the horizon and by the next morning, were releasing a gentle rain that came off and on for the next two weeks. It completely revived their crops and saved their lives. It also began to save the Indians’ lives for eternity; because when they saw how the Pilgrims’ God answered prayer, they began to turn to Him and receive Jesus Christ as their Master and true God.
Today we find ourselves in a similar situation. While, on the surface, it may not seem as bad as the Pilgrims’ trial, in reality it is. God is trying to get our attention as Americans. According to Jeremiah 27:8, God uses “famine, sword, and pestilence” to judge His people in order to bring them to repentance. He’s doing all three with us right now.
“Famine” speaks to the financial means of a nation. We now have the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. “Sword” speaks of war coming on a people. “Pestilence” refers to disease coming on a people. Because of our liberal teaching about sex, now, one in four Americans has a sexually transmitted disease. Wouldn’t you say God is trying to get our attention?
That’s the good news. God still wants our attention! Had He given up on us, another nation would be flying their flag in Washington, D.C. right now. And while that looms on the horizon, there is still yet time for us to cry to Him in repentance. There is yet opportunity to fall on our face and admit that these lives we’ve called our own are not our own; they are His! Will you heed the Scriptures and join with thousands of us who are getting on our knees, and crying to Him in repentance for neglecting Him and the reading of His Word. Let us return to Him and commit to obey what we find in the Bible—whatever that is.
Will we believe His Word, that:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1st John 1:9)
Will you commit to read His Word from beginning to end as a practice for the rest of your life, obeying it and teaching it to your children? We can do this—or we can live as slaves. The choice, for now, is ours.
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you—and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you. I’m Don Pinson; this has been Think About It.