According to The New Collins International Dictionary, the meaning of 'sovereign' is: "supreme in rank or authority; or a person exercising supreme authority especially a monarch". How awesome is our God and how we must fear Him. If He will witness against someone, what chance do they have?
Oh Father, God, You are all knowing and You do not abuse Your knowledge or power like we humans beings often do. You are so kind but You are also holy and where You are, is holy (1:2-"holy temple"). Because You are holy you exercise Your supreme authority over us as you did Your people of Israel long ago. But You do so justly and for our own good.
You know that we have much rebelliousness against authority; especially against many of our earthly fathers and of how they have brought us up or how they may have violated us or even have been so distant and not even involved in our lives; or maybe we have these rebellious feelings against our husbands; against church leaders or even the governing powers of the land where we live. It may be festering like an angry boil, full of pus.
Yet when we give our burdens to You, oh Father God, when we lay them down at Your feet in humble contrition, You will forgive and redeem the situations and relationships as You did for Your people of Israel. You brought them together again (2:12) and You will redeem them (4:10). Praise be to Your holy Name, Father God. This gives us confidence in You that we can rupture that rebellious "boil" in our lives and bring ourselves Your "peace" (5:4, 5) and bring glory to Yourself.
We want this peace so we can bring greater peace to our families. Let not Proverbs 14:1b happen, we do not want to tear down our houses, nor Your house (the congregations of the people of God) with our own hands. Keep us from this fate.
O Sovereign LORD, we want Your peace and glory to SHINE from our hearts and home and among the assemblies of the saints worldwide. Blessed be Your Name Sovereign Lord. We acknowledge You in our life, rend our hearts because we know You are compassionate and just and fair, You love mercy and are full of righteous acts. You are our Savior through Jesus Christ. You hear us and our repentance, You have forgiven our sins (Micah 7:19; 6:5; 7:7; 7:18) and (1 John 1:9). Thank-You, in Jesus' Name.
God and Father, Your prophets of old, those mighty men of God, knew Your merciful nature, it can strike us too when seeing Micah say it, almost matter-of-factly in 7:20, that You will be "true to Jacob and show mercy to Abraham" that when we must confront our own Dad's or others in authority over us, that we too must be true and show mercy despite our anger towards them.
You remind us too of the Psalmist who said in Psalm 4:4...
"In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent."
And as Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:1...
"Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father..."
So if it is our father (or others in authority over us) we may wish to confront, but Father God, guide not only our words but our attitude and behavior. Help us to show Your tenderness, to see him (and others) through Your eyes, help us to think of them Your way and to not be guided by a sea of negative feelings that may linger, but to CHOOSE to do what is right in Your eyes to bring about healing in our relationships not only with You but with our earthly fathers, and others in those places of authority. Roll back that murky sea of negativity and legitimate hurts as you rolled back the Red Sea and the Jordan Rivers for the children of Israel ever so long ago so we may pass over on 'dry' ground to the promise of miraculous healing in our relationships bringing greater unity all around. May your peace settle over all. May the witness you have be for us.
May your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
In Jesus' Name we pray...
~ERC 2017~
Originally written 2 March 1995 but adapted for blog 2017
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