9/11 & Rosh Hashana

So, yesterday was 9/11, and I, in my carelessness, failed to even mention it on my blog. Forgive me. Today, the D&C tells me that Rosh Hashana starts tonight...

Rosh Hashana (according to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) has the main themes of: repentance, preparation for the Day of Atonement (10 days later), and prayer for a fruitful year. It is the beginning of the Jewish New Year.

September 11th, 2001 was a wake-up call for America. I believed that people in this country ignored the goofy idea of moral relativism for a little while. Americans ignored the foolish idea of atheism when they all began to pray. It was a wakeup call that for a time softened some of the hardest hearts - I'm afraid we missed a great opportunity for revival in America... (Though to be honest, as a personal testimony, that is right about the time where I committed to being a more serious student of the Bible and a more real disciple of Jesus.) As we look through the book of Judges, only when the people found themselves in a catastrophic situation did they cry out to God, and God was faithful to send a deliverer.

Tying this in to Rosh Hashana which is tomorrow, this should be a time of repentance for us Christians in America. The Day of Atonement, the day of judgment is coming, and I believe that it is soon. But even though it appears to some of us that God is slacking concerning the promise of His return... He is not slack concerning it. His longsuffering is just to lead more to repentance.

Right now I am reading this book written by an ancient Jewish author. His name is Ezekiel - not sure on his last name. Throughout this book, you find God pronouncing judgment on a people, and then He gives the reason: That they may know that the LORD God is God.

Just a thought...

by Andy Hinds

God's Longsuffering

One of my personal favorite attributes of God is His longsuffering. If I were God (...hearing the collective sigh of relief that I am not!...), I would not put up with me and the things that I do.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise [of His return] but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repenntance.

It is true that God does not desire anybody to go to Hell. He does not have pleasure in the death of the wicked. But some of the lost people in the world despise the riches of God's longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God, His patience and forbearance in pouring out His wrath on man, is meant to lead men to repentance (that is my paraphrase of Romans 2:4). Instead they just add wrath on top of wrath, adding more and more sin to their account.

But you know what, we as Christians are guilty of the same thing too often. We experience God's longsuffering when we do something wrong, and because He does not execute judgment right away, we deceive ourselves and think it's ok to get away with it. God's forbearance of judgment against us when we sin ought to be used for us to praise Him for it, rather than use it as a license to go deeper into sin.

1 Timothy 1:16: "...for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering..."

Just a thought...