Bible Devotion - 3/21/2021

Lamentations 3:40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.

When I read the words of Jeremiah in Lamentations 3:40, I think of Charles Tindley's great hymn "Nothing Between":
Nothing between my soul and my Savior, Naught of this world's delusive dream; I have renounced all sinful pleasure; Jesus is mine, there's nothing between.

Refrain: Nothing between my soul and my Savior, So that His blessed face may be seen; Nothing preventing the least of His favor; Keep the way clear!  Let nothing between.

Dear brother & sister, can we honestly say that there is there's nothing between our soul and our Savior?  Is the way clear so that there is nothing preventing Him from showing His favor in our life?  Is there anything in our heart and life that is displeasing to Him?

The words of Jeremiah also make me think of the words of the Psalmist:
Psalms 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Both the Psalmist and the prophet were saying, "Lord, let there be nothing between me and God.

Someone has said that people repent on Sunday for what they did on Saturday and plan to do on Monday.  Well, Jeremiah was not speaking of such a shallow and hypocritical attitude about sin.  He is talking about coming clean before God.

Ivor Powell tells a story of an old man in Wales, who, when called on to pray would always pray, "Lord, clean all the cobwebs out of my life."

It never failed that when he prayed, he would pray the same prayer.  One fellow in the church had had enough of the prayer and the next time that he prayed the prayer, he jumped up and shouted, "Lord, kill that spider!"

Jeremiah is calling for more than a few cobwebs to be cleaned out of our soul.  He is calling for a killing of the spider.  Again, he is calling for the believer to come clean before God.

Why is it that we are not seeing revival in our churches?  Why is God's power and blessings not resting upon us, either church or individual?  Why are we so ineffective in the prayer-closet and in reaching lost souls?

Dr. Percy Ray was a very anointed preacher in his day.  They said that when he prayed you knew he was talking to God.  He was asked on one occasion over lunch what he thought was the biggest problem in our churches today.  He took a bite of food and chewed on it for a minute and then answered in his rough voice, "Sin!"

There is really no need for enlargement on his answer.  Sin! That is our problem!  It is the reason we are not seeing revival.  It is the reason we are powerless and fruitless.  It is not our culture.  It is our sin!  It is not our age we live in but our sin we live in!  It is not conditions around us that is the cause of the problem but rather the condition that is within us.  It is our sin!

Church let us begin to pursue a life of Holiness so that God can once again begin to revive us, bless us, and save our lost loved ones!


Bro. Jeff Sizemore