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Thursday

Mar122015

Lord, Reveal Our Destitution

"You are the man!"

“David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

“ Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!....”
—2Samuel 12: 5-7

"These 'depths' in which we sometimes find ourselves...come upon us not by misfortune but by God's providential hand in order that we might learn to know ourselves as we are before him and to seek his grace and forgiveness."
—David Wells

Lord, Reveal Our Destitution

Lord, please help us see the damage
That lay scattered in our wake.
Grant us , Lord, Divine affliction¹…
Help us own this Grim Mistake.

Send us Nathans to confront us²,
Help us see The Sin denied…
Shine the light of Truth, Lord, on us,
Come and find us…where we hide³.

Grant the Grace of true contrition⁴,
Help us see with honest eyes.
Help us know You, wholly Holy,
Help us shed these alibis.

May the words of Jesus haunt us…
May they truly track us down.
May they first bring grief and sorrow⁵,
Show us lost before we’re found⁶.

May they make us truly mournful⁷,
Make us meek⁸ with deep regret,
Poor in spirit, hungry, thirsting⁹…
Yes, imprisoned¹⁰, lost in debt.

May they penetrate like Nathan’s,
May they pierce and leave their mark,
May they cut, Lord, to the marrow¹¹,
May the True Light chase the dark.

May the Sword of Truth divide us,
Soul and spirit , Father, bare¹².…
Help us know our TRUE condition,
In the True Light’s Holy glare.

Help us know sin’s condemnation¹³,
So we’ll know Amazing Grace….
Help us turn from this, our darkness,
Then to see sweet Mercy’s Face.

Help us know we’re dead in Adam¹⁴,
Yes, before there’s life in Christ…
Help us fathom this Provision:
His atoning sacrifice¹⁵.

May the dawn of Truth16 bring blessing,
Help us hear, then, help us heed…
Give us Faith to hear the Shepherd¹⁷ …
Sow the Word, the Truth…the Seed1¹⁸.

Plow each heart up, Lord, in sorrow…
Create in us fertile ground¹⁹.
May we bow then at Truth’s hearing²⁰,
And rejoice then at its sound!

Lord, reveal our destitution,
In the mourning help us know.
At the dawn²¹, please, Shepherd, find us,
In this broken world below.

Holy Spirit, give us vision,
Give us Light to know The Way²²…
Take us to the Cross of Calv’ry,
Where the nighttime turns to day.

Father, call us to repentance,
Slay us there on bended knee.
Show us why the Lamb and Shepherd
Fought to climb Golgotha’s Tree²³.

Help us see there first and foremost,
Our uncleanness²⁴ in your sight …
Filthy rags²⁵ turned into riches,
Sealed²⁶ in Resurrected Christ!

“I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.10For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
—2Corinthians 7: 9-10

“People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
—Isaiah 30:19-21

⁵Matthew 5:4

¹⁰Isaiah 42: 7