Judge of the Nations

Psalm 51 relates to us a prayer of repentance from the heart of David...he begins by saying this:
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.   So he calls upon the mercy of God - because of our sins and our propensity to commit sins, we don't deserve in and of ourselves to be forgiven.   But, because of the love of Christ, which motivated Him to give His life for us, we can experience powerful cleansing from sin.   David writes beginning in verse 10 of the Psalm: 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

In the times we live in, when temptation surrounds us, and when we face the possibility each day of being lured to miss the mark in our Christian walk, we need to experience the cleaning agent, the Holy Spirit, who enables us to walk consistent with our new identity in Christ - we have been declared righteous and holy, and when our behavior doesn't measure up, we can come before God, confess our sins, repent in our hearts, and rely on Him to empower us to walk in alignment with His ways.

In Daniel chapter 9, we see a breathtaking prayer of repentance by the prophet, as He called out to God for his nation.   Picking up in verse 4, we read:
4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 "Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame--the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. At the conclusion of this prayer, Daniel says:18 Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name."    I have been reading in the so-called minor prophets - minor because of the size of the books, but major in the content of the messages.   And, prophets such as Joel, Micah, and others point to a collective judgment of God upon nations.   I asked myself, even jotted it down in my journal - so what is the criteria for the judgment of God to be upon an entire nation?   I think, in part, the issue is alignment - does a nation, its leaders, and its religious leaders follow the principles of God, or are the hearts of the people being turned to another path?    And, even in the midst of judgment, we know that those who individually turn to Him can experience His presence, even while collectively a nation or people is facing the consequences of their actions.  This is especially relevant in light of comments made by the President of Uganda recently.   According to World Net Daily, citing a report from the news source, New Vision, President Yoweri Museveni celebrated Uganda’s 50th anniversary of independence from Britain at the National Jubilee Prayers event by publicly repenting of his personal sin and the sins of the nation. 
“I stand here today to close the evil past, and especially in the last 50 years of our national leadership history and at the threshold of a new dispensation in the life of this nation. I stand here on my own behalf and on behalf of my predecessors to repent. We ask for your forgiveness,” Museveni prayed.

“We confess these sins, which have greatly hampered our national cohesion and delayed our political, social and economic transformation. We confess sins of idolatry and witchcraft which are rampant in our land. We confess sins of shedding innocent blood, sins of political hypocrisy, dishonesty, intrigue and betrayal,” Museveni said.

But the President was not done - He went on to confess other national sins; then, he dedicated the nation of Uganda to God:

“We want to dedicate this nation to you so that you will be our God and guide. We want Uganda to be known as a nation that fears God and as a nation whose foundations are firmly rooted in righteousness and justice to fulfill what the Bible says in Psalm 33:12: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. A people you have chosen as your own."

That's amazing, isn't it?   A man of power standing before God in humility and crying out to Him on behalf of His people.  It's a stirring reminder for each of us to continue to prayer for our leaders in America, that they would stand with God and His principles in the decisions they have to make, their attitudes toward their positions and the people they serve, and for integrity in their dealings.  

And, when's the last time you bowed before God to repent of your own sins - as we confess our sins, specifically, we activate the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit, and can experience the forgiveness of God.   Even in a culture that seems intent on turning away from God, we can stand before Him clean and holy.