Vicarious Repentance

Scripture:

Jeremiah 14:20  "We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord, and the guilt of our ancestors; we have indeed sinned against you".

Observation:

Jeremiah records the response of God's people when they see that He is going to destroy them.  They began to repent, not only for their sins, but the sins of their ancestors.  They acknowledged the sins of the their ancestors and realized that their sins must be repented of.

Application:

I call this vicarious repentance.  When God, as a righteous judge, begins to bring judgment on people, His people must begin to vicariously repent.  Maybe we haven't done anything wrong, but our forefathers have and we are receiving their judgment.  We must learn to repent of things our nation has done, our parents have done, etc. as God reveals them to us.  We need to always repent of our sins, but we also must repent of the sins of others sometimes.

Prayer:

Father, forgive my nation.  Have mercy on the United States.  Forgive our sins as we have turned away from you.  We have put you out of our nation and we repent for our actions.  Please forgive our nation and breathe the wind of your spirit across this nation one again.  Here our cry oh Lord.

Yours,
Jeff