Stinging, but Tender Mercies
Deuteronomy 29:18-19
“Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike.”
Scriptures like these cut deep and fill me with shame. Shame, because I immediately recall to mind moments where I prayed precisely that, or at least lived it out even if the practice never formalized into a silent blessing. Like those Sunday mornings when I’d lead a congregation in singing, full of the joy of the LORD, but only after a weekend of shameful behavior in private. Oh how cursed is our ability to pardon ourselves of all sorts of vices as long as we’re, you know, ‘doing the LORD’s work’!
How many single moms, burned out by the expenditure of child-rearing, have ‘rewarded’ themselves with a bit of self-exonerating drunkenness? After all, motherhood is a daily burden (God surely understands). How many husbands have excused bouts with pornography as medicinal salves for depression and anxiety and despair? How many entrepreneurs and hobbyists have stopped supporting church ministries and missionary endeavors and orphan sponsorships and considered it the will of God to spend all their time and money on their own private business ventures?
Shame on us for seeing ourselves in Deuteronomy 29:19! Yet, shame on us still more, if, instead of seeing ourselves, we immediately see someone else! Remember: we can be squeaky clean on the outside like a Pharisee but still rotting on the inside. So how do we know when we’re becoming Pharisees at heart? Well, here’s a pretty good test: if we look into the mirror of Deuteronomy 29:18-19, see someone else’s shame rather than our own, and pray something like, “Oh God, thank you that I’m not like that!”
Friend, let’s take time right now to confess to the LORD those hidden compromises we’ve made, all the while clinging to His precious promise from 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Don’t walk away from Deuteronomy 29 today in shame, friend. Walk away in the security of the LORD’s tender mercies which are new every morning.