Broken. Today my heart is broken. And if my calloused, jaded, scarred, imperfect human heart is broken, I can only imagine the immeasurable ache inside the heart of our Heavenly Father.
The shedding of innocent blood. The increasing division. The crumbling economy and the bumbling politicians creating it. The acceptance of immorality. The elevation of self. The quarreling and vanity and idolatry and I could go on and on and on…. The increasing evil on all fronts is enough to shake even the most robust among us. But I don’t believe that is the main cause of the grief of God.
I believe it is the increasing distance between His heart and the hearts of those who claim to love Him.
In the face of today’s injustices, we scream about our rights. We cry out against our enemies. We hoard our goods and build our castles and seek our comforts. We surround ourselves with preachers and teachers who say what our itching ears long to hear. But what we do not do is repent. We do not weep over our own sin. And we do not forsake our flesh so that we may truly live according to His Spirit.
Life is not about satisfying our desires,
But about glorifying our God.
It is not about leaning upon our own wisdom,
But about seeking His ways.
People are consumed with the Depp/Heard trial, which, I admit, is kind of like a train accident from which you can’t seem to look away. They are throwing out opinions, theories, and rants about the recent school shootings and gun control, which is such a sad and tragic product of where our society had brought us. Politics and politicians. Who’s to blame for the economy. To vax or not to vax. But, who is crying out for true revival? Who is broken enough to turn off their phone and wait for God to speak… even if it takes a really long time to finally tune out the noise of our own thoughts and actually hear what He is is saying?
He’s calling us back to Himself!! He is urging us to return to the path He made for us, to walk in the ways of Ha’shem, in the righteousness of His name.
We, His church, have become a walking contradiction. It’s no wonder the term ‘Christian’ has become nearly synonymous with hypocrite, while saying things like, “Obey God, but not His law, for that doesn’t apply to us anymore.” But God said, “I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips.” (Psalm 89:34) And, “For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the LORD.” (Numbers 15:15) And, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. Amen, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or serif shall ever pass away from the Torah until all things come to pass. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-19)
We say, “It’s ok to sin because God’s grace will cover me.” But God said, “Go, and from now on sin no more.” (John 8:11) And, “
We say, “God’s law is a heavy burden.” But God says, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30)
We say, “Jesus’s commands are different from God’s commands.” But Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)
Even the apostles affirmed obedience to God’s Law and taught their congregations to do the same:
- “And why would you ask what good work you need to do? Keep the commandments and you’ll enter into the life of God.” Matthew 19:17
- “Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” Romans 3:29-31
- “Your identity before God has nothing to do with circumcision or uncircumcision. What really matters is following God’s commandments.” 1 Corinthians 7:19
- “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” 1 John 2:3-6
- “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” 1 John 5:2-3
- “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” Revelation 14:12
The thing is, we have been lead to believe that obedience to God is a burden, unnecessary, and legalistic. We have been robbed of the complete joy and intimacy that comes from a life that truly follows after Him. We have traded God’s ways for man’s, and consumed ourselves with the cares of this world, forgetting that our only real treasure is the one we store up in heaven.
I have found no peace in life that compares to the one that comes only trough true intimacy with my Heavenly Father. An intimacy only formed by believing that God is who He says He is and He means what He says. We can trust Him. We can trust His Word. There wasn’t some mystical shift or change of mind that happened at the cross, rather a fulfillment of all the promises He’d made since the beginning of time. God really is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and with that we can take great comfort.
He. Is. Faithful.
But it’s strange, because this comfort also comes with a deep sadness for those in His body who have unwittingly rejected Him. Yes, for that my heart is broken. It is broken because we are turning a blind eye, and at times an angry, belligerent one, to the very thing, the only thing that will bring us life, restoration, and peace. God’s Law wasn’t made to oppress us. He gave us His Law to restore to us what what sin had taken away.
This is what we should be consumed with. This is what we should be pursuing. This is what we should be crying out from the roof tops! (Or more aptly from our social media platforms?) Because if we don’t get this, if we don’t get HIM, nothing else matters. And seeing people get this, really get it, that’s such a burden on my heart. I want everyone to know and experience just how good it is. Do you want it, too?
“But get up, and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose—to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things you have seen as well as to the things I will yet reveal to you. I will rescue you from your own people, and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes—so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of satan to God, that they may receive release from sins as well as a place among those who are made holy through trusting in Me.’” Acts 26:16-18
“But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.” Romans 6:17-19
A Scarlet Cord 