A Call for Repentance - Day 31: Lord forgive me for breaking Your heart.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD!’ ””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭23:37-39‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We all know what it feels like to have a broken heart. We have experienced the crushing pain associated with personal loss, betrayal, abandonment, and so on. What some people may not realize, is that God also knows what a broken heart feels like.

Indeed, we know that mankind has brought sorrow to God’s heart even from the beginning. Sadly, when man began to spread across the Earth, man’s evil became so great, that the Lord decided to destroy His own creation.

“The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭6‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Yes, the Lord’s heart was broken that His creation had become so evil that it had to be destroyed.

All through the Bible, we see incidents of the Lord expressing sorrow over man’s continued tendency toward rebellion.

The prophet Isaiah speaks prophetically concerning the sorrow God-made-flesh, Jesus Christ, would experience at the hands of His own people.

“He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In our opening scripture we see Jesus expressing great sorrow when thinking of what His people would have to endure because of their rejection of Him.

We read the words expressing the grief Jesus experienced over knowing that Jerusalem was going to be destroyed (having rejected His offer to save them), perhaps without realizing that we may also be grieving the heart of our Lord.

Think of it: God continually reaches to us, offering a way of escape from all sorts of trouble and danger. And yet, we often do the same thing that Jerusalem did and turn a deaf ear to God’s warning. And with us—as with them—He mourns the trouble we often bring on ourselves by not turning to Him.

Sometimes we break His heart by putting our time with Him so low in our priorities that we never seem to find time to just be alone with Him.

Sometimes we break the Lord’s heart by defiling ourselves with the world.

Other times, we break His heart by becoming ungrateful of His goodness

Whatever it is we do, or don’t do, that brings sorrow to God’s heart, one thing is for sure, we do it often.

Child of God, let’s recognize the ways in which we have broken the heart of our Lord (perhaps repeatedly) and ask for His forgiveness.

Let’s determine to be more mindful of the Lord. Let’s walk more closely to Him, listening more intently to His word, seeking after His heart. By doing so, maybe we can bring joy to the heart of our Father Who has done so much for us!

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

#callforrepentance

#resolveforhim