{"id":692,"date":"2019-04-16T17:28:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T23:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=692"},"modified":"2019-04-14T20:33:37","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T02:33:37","slug":"692","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=692","title":{"rendered":"Confessing the sins of the nation?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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This is going to be a hard one…I’m still working on the idea and can’t say that I’ve put it into practice, but I want to share it with you. Maybe some of you can provide some additional guidance in the comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was reading Nehemiah and while I had always noted that his first action after hearing about the problem with the broken down wall (Nehemiah 1.4) was to go to prayer. But I never paid much attention to the prayer itself. After opening with a few sentences of praise<\/em>, he goes to confession<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\nyour ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant\nthat I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your\nservants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned\nagainst you. Even I and my father\u2019s house have sinned. We have acted very\ncorruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the\nrules that you commanded your servant Moses. (Nehemiah 1.6, 7)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This appears to be a different from of confession than we\u2019re used to. You may have been taught the ACTS<\/strong> acrostic as a good way to structure your prayers: A<\/strong>doration, C<\/strong>onfession, T<\/strong>hanksgiving, S<\/strong>upplication, and Nehemiah seems to be following this pattern. However, and it\u2019s a big however<\/em>, Nehemiah is confessing sins of the nation<\/strong><\/em>. Daniel did the same thing in Daniel 9.5 \u2013 15 which ends:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of\nEgypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we\nhave sinned, we have done wickedly. (Daniel 9.15)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel and Nehemiah are confessing sins they didn\u2019t commit! Sins that occurred before they were born. I don\u2019t remember hearing any teaching on this kind of confession. Sometimes in a worship service there is a corporate confession using \u201cwe,\u201d but it\u2019s almost always sins that we committed or could have committed, like the standard, \u201cWe have done things we ought not to have done, and we haven\u2019t done things we ought to have done.\u201d Or, \u201cWe haven\u2019t loved you or others as we should have; we\u2019ve been selfish; etc.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of us, for example, are opposed to abortion, at least to the seemingly unlimited access to abortion that\u2019s happening today. However, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever heard, \u201cLord forgive us<\/em> for killing all those babies.\u201d We more often seem to have the attitude of the Pharisee in Luke 18: \u201cGod, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.\u201d (verse 11)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe our\nconfession, if it were to be more like Nehemiah\u2019s might sound more like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n