We have sinned

So they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the LORD. And they fasted that day, and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah. 1 Samuel 7v6

Israel only had one way out of their condition. They were in sin. The nation was a mess. Leadership had failed them. Even though the ark had been returned twenty years passed and they were still in sin. There had been no moves to repentance and the worship of false gods had become well entrenched.

Finally Samuel confronted them. If they did not repent and turn back to God the Philistines would soon conquer them. Israel responded, they put away their false gods, and they gathered together at Mizpeh.

What happened next is key. What they did is the only beginning of any true revival. They had put away the false gods. They fasted. Then they said ‘We have sinned.’

There can be no true revival until we admit that we are in sin. We can deny it, blame someone else, say it is not our fault, or whatever, but until we admit that we are the fault for our condition we will see no repentance or revival in our lives.

‘I have sinned.’ Until we learn how to say those simple words we are doomed to be mired in nothing more than a mediocre spiritual life.