“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:5-6.
The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold. Job 42:10.
“Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:2-3.
Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Romans 2:4.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Jesus explained to you some major keys to powerful prayer, “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions. Mark 11:24-26.
Forgive when you come to pray. And it is even better if you forgive immediately when offended and do not wait. It is dangerous not to forgive. Moses never forgave the people he was leading through the desert for their words that offended him and kept them forty years in the desert, even almost forty years later listen to his words to them, “Now the LORD was angry with me on your account, and swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.” Deuteronomy 4:21. Right to the end he blamed the people for what he had done, he justified himself and did not repent.
Adam never repented of his sin. He never forgave Eve. He justified himself.
To go forward with Me, you must forgive as I have forgiven you—which is by the blood of Christ which takes away all your sin as if it had never been and moves you forward with a clean slate. You need to repent and not resent. Moses resented but he never repented. Adam blamed Me and Eve for his sin. Moses told Me I had given him too heavy a load with the grumbling people. But actually I had given him a great honor and privilege by entrusting to him the leadership of My covenant people and working wonders through him before their eyes. It was because of is amazing assignment to lead them out of Egypt that all the glory had come into His life. It was his job to feed them and not beat them, to instruct them and not destruct them. To edify them and not shame them. To love them into wholeness and to reveal to them My gracious lovingkindness that I had shown Him. It is My goodness and kindness that bring to repentance, not shame and blame.
Consider your ways. When you do what I tell you in My Word to do, it works. It is a perfect law of liberty and I am no respecter of persons. My Word works the same for all that it works for Me. And if you will not forgive, the Word cannot work for you. You have blocked the fountain of grace.
Unless you repent, Jesus told the crowd questioning him about some destructions that had occurred among the people, you shall all likewise perish. My servant Peter knew about the benefits of repentance and he wrote, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9.
Why did Adam, Eve, Moses, the Israelites just out of Egypt in the desert, Judas and others get shut out of their destiny when they sinned against Me but Jonah, David, Manasseh, Job, and Peter did not? There is one huge difference. And if you study the differences in response, you will find that the ones who went forward to a fruitful life repented, acknowledged the wrong they had done, forgave the ones who offended them, and went on to tell others of My goodness.
When Jesus began His public ministry what was the first thing He said? Repent. “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” Matthew 4:17. And what did John the Baptist say to open the way for Jesus? Yes, you know, “Repent!” “Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” Matthew 3:1-2. But it is important you understand the word “repent” as it was originally written in the Greek language in the New Testament and in the Hebrew language in the Old Testament.
In Greek, the word translated as “repent” is metanoéō, which is formed from the words metá, which means “changed after being with” and noiéō, which means “think,” so combining those you get “think differently after,” “after a change of mind”; to repent, literally, “think differently afterwards.” So here it would be a change in the way you think and operate after hearing the good news of the Kingdom. And repentance (the noun) is the same word used as a noun: “metanoia,” which means “a change of mind.” The prodigal son returned to his father when he had a change of mind. And that brings us close to the Hebrew word that you see translated “repent.” In Hebrew, the word is “shuv,” to turn back, to return. When I used it, I would often be telling the people to leave their idols and return to Me. To turn back from their evil ways and seek Me.
Repenting is changing your mind and returning to My Words as your way of thinking. And repenting is acknowledging that you had the wrong mindset, otherwise you would not need to change it. David wrote, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; and You forgave the guilt of my sin.” Psalm 32:5. To move on and have your destiny you must first acknowledge what you did was wrong and not blame others for your conduct. Neither Adam nor Moses ever did that.
Repent and forgive when you pray. The answer is there for you to your prayer but until you repent you cannot receive. Hard hearts, self-righteous hearts, cannot receive My Word any more than concrete can receive a seed. For a seed to grow where there is concrete it has to be in a crack to find soft soil. Until hard hearts repent and forgive, the seed has no soft soil to grow in.
So take a look at Job. He got into fear, anxiety, and self-righteousness. He blamed Me for his trials. But he did not know Me though he had heard of Me, so I came to answer his questions. And if you invite Me into your heart, I will sit down and fellowship with you too. Revelation 3:20. And what was the result? Listen to Job and you will know what to do when you sin and take a wrong course, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:5-6. He retracted his words that had been stout against Mine and he repented of his actions. But there was one more step. His friends had offended him in the way they responded to his trials and he had bitterness and unforgiveness towards them. He resented what they had said of him to his face. But I told him to pray for them for they had acted foolishly and had not known Me either. And what happened? “The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold.” Job 42:10. He had began before his trials from the devil as the richest man in the East and now I had given him not only restoration but the double portion.
He retracted and repented and forgave, going so far as to pray for the blessing of those who had offended and hurt him. He did not shut himself out of his destiny. He lived to a good old age, full of good days and happy years with family and friends.
Paul said that forgetting what lies behind he pressed forward to My high calling in Christ. And forgetting what lies behind includes what others have done that offended, abused, or stopped you.
Now look at David. You may be thinking he did a sin far worse than Moses and yet remained the leader of Israel and Judah and went forward with his destiny as king. But if you look at the incident, he repented, took the blame entirely, and forgave Bathsheba and even comforted her. Adam did not do that for Eve. He blamed her and gave her no comfort.
Just read what David sang in Psalm 51 and you will see retraction, repentance and forgiveness, as well as a willingness to go forth and preach and teach about My goodness to sinners so they return to Me. So they too repent. And you will find this same pattern in Peter after he denied My Son, he retracted, repented, forgave and went on to preach and teach the good news of Jesus to multitudes of sinners. And what were His first words in telling people how to be saved? You already know, “Repent.” “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” Acts 2:37-39.
And My prophet Jonah? He did not lose his destiny though at first, he ran away from it. He retracted, repented, forgave and went on to preach repentance to the city of Nineveh. And they listened and took his words to heart. “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.” Jonah 3:10. They repented and that put them back on track to their destiny also.
Unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish.
Do you see the pattern for a successful recovery from sin? Retract, repent by acknowledging that you did wrong, and forgive and then go forth to convert sinners to Me. You will know what to tell them to do. Just like John the Baptist, Jesus, and Peter, “Repent and believe the good news!”
I love you. If you have done wrong acknowledge it and confess it to Me. Don’t blame others and forgive the ones who offended you. And that is where you get back on the right track. Then you are ready to instruct others in My goodness.
Then he will pray to God, and He will accept him, that he may see His face with joy, and He may restore His righteousness to man. He will sing to men and say, ‘I have sinned and perverted what is right, and it is not proper for me. He has redeemed my soul from going to the pit, and my life shall see the light.’ Behold, God does all these oftentimes with men, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life. Job 33:26-30.