Turn Your Judgments Into Blessings

"Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years,
year after year; and David inquired of the Lord.
And the Lord answered, 'It is because of Saul
and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.'”
2nd Samuel 21:1

Things don't happen without a cause. King David knew that, so he went to the Lord and asked why famine was on the land. The Lord answered that the former king, Saul, had killed Gibeonites. Saul was dead by now and the slaughter of the Gibeonites took place long ago. So we see that judgments and curses can be brought forward even long after the deed was done that caused them.

It's reminiscent of the several passages revealing that judgment continues down to the third and fourth generations.

"The Lord is long-suffering and abundant in mercy,
forgiving iniquity and transgression;
but he by no means clears the guilty,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children
to the third and fourth generation."
Numbers 14:18

So David set out to make things right. He asked the Gibeonites how he could make things right with them. They asked that seven descendants of Saul be handed over to them, and David complied.

Then he went to the graves of Saul and his son Jonathan who had been buried by enemies who killed them in war, and he brought their bones back to Israel and buried them in the graves of their fathers. After doing all he could think of to rectify the situation, he then went to the Lord and asked the curse to be removed, and "God heeded the prayer for the land."

Folks, we need to understand spiritual laws. Today, believers ignore them believing that their sins have been forgiven because of the atoning sacrifice Jesus accomplished for us, and that is very true. But there are CONSEQUENCES of sin, and many times those consequences will reach down the generations from the perpetrator. Children tend to carry on the sins of their fathers. If you look into the descendants of an alcoholic, you'll often see alcoholism down through the generations. If a woman is promiscuous, oftentimes her daughters will be too. If a man sins through violence, there will oftentimes be violence in his descendants.

So what to do when you realize there is such a tendency in your own family, even if the source is a generation or two back from you?

You do as David did. You confess the sins you know about, and ask for forgiveness. Then you do whatever you can to make things right with anyone who was victimized by the sin in your family. And then you ask the Lord to reveal anything more of what you need to know, and you submit the whole subject into the hands of the Lord and ask for guidance. Then, having done all you can, you wait for his response.

Sometimes a judgment or curse cannot be reversed, but in such a situation the Lord will walk with the person through whatever he has to face. And if a judgment or curse cannot be reversed, the Lord will make a way to turn it into a blessing, because for those who love the Lord, "all things," ALL THINGS, will be turned around for the good.

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are the called according to his purpose."
Romans 8:28

If you perceive that there is a judgment upon your family, seek the Lord concerning what you should do. One way or another, Jesus has promised relief. Stand on his promise, read the following over and over again until it lives inside you:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor;
he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed;"
Luke 4:18