Returning to God

Bulletins

Brian Nielsen
08/04/24 - General

If you have seen some sins I've committed in years past and sadly maybe more recently, my answer would be, yeah, you're probably right. While I would rather not, I could probably admit something even worse.

How guilty and fearful I feel when reading God's curses on disobedience in Deuteronomy chapter 28. If you have similar feelings, we have good news. How thankful and humble I feel when reading about the undeserved escape from the past:

"Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the lord your God drives you, and you return to the lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the lord your God has scattered you." (Deuteronomy 30:1-3)

While God was speaking to an entire nation in this case, we can also find great encouragement in 2 Peter chapter 2 that even if all around us are stubbornly disobedient, the Lord will recognize and reward our obedient repentance and return to Him: "Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment." (2 Peter 2:9)

Not accepting this opportunity is addressed in Hebrews 2:3 -- "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him?"

(Scripture quotes are from the NKJV)