Can God's Heart Be Broken?

Scripture: …how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. Ezekiel 6:9 ESV

Observation: God foretells an upcoming judgment against his own people. He is going to make his own people an example to the world of what happens when God is against you. As horrible as this is, something powerful is happening in the heart of God. He is broken. It is always tricky to assign emotions to God, since his ways are not like our ways. But here, God himself gives us language to describe how he is feeling. God says that his heart is broken over the unfaithfulness of his people. The heart of God is broken.

Application: I struggle still to think of God as angry with me, disappointed when I do not follow him. These are not biblical thoughts. I know there is now no condemnation. But I often fail to consider that the God of the universe might be broken over my sin. That his heart might yearn for my faithfulness. That he loves me and wants what is best for me—and my unfaithfulness is not what is best for me. God cares deeply for me and his heart breaks when I go after idols.

Prayer: God, forgive me for wandering. I pray my heart would be broken over my sin like your heart is broken over my sin. Help me to align with you and rely upon you to be faithful.

Faithful...and Barren

Scripture: And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years.

Observation: Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous. They were faithful. They believed God. They had been this way all their lives. Yet all of this obedience did not shield them from the pain of barrenness. Elizabeth refers to this as her “reproach.”
Now, ultimately, God does bring a child into their lives—and what a child he was! But at the time of verse 7, this couple had felt God’s silence into a deep area of life.
So obedience and faithfulness do not always equal timely blessing, as far as our timing is concerned. Even good-hearted believers, faithful followers, can know the pain of unmet dreams. They can feel like God has not looked at them.

Application: I live in a Proverbs theology: Generally, faithfulness equals blessing. It does, but not always in the timing and manner we expect. This is a good guideline for me as I begin 40 days of listening and expecting from God. Can I expect blessing? Yes, but it may not come in the shape or timing I want. Some blessings come much later, but as I learn from Elizabeth and Zechariah, they do come.

Prayer: God, let me be faithful. Let me obey even if I do not see the fruit. Even though the barrenness. And let me trust you these next 40 days that you know the best time and way to bring blessing into my life.

Woe to the Shepherds

Scripture:  "Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!" declares the LORD.

  Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: "You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds, " declares the LORD.

  "Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. Jeremiah 23

Observation:
1. The sheep belong to God (My pasture).
2. The problem is shepherds who fail to attend to the sheep.
3. God's desire is fruitfulness and multiplication.
4. God will hold shepherds accountable.

Application: I destroy and scatter the sheep of God's pasture (congregation of PRC) when I fail to attend to them in a way that helps them be fruitful and multiply.

Prayer:. God, I don't want to hear these words. Forgive me for where we are failing to attend to your sheep you've entrusted to our care. Sober us with the reality of your expectation and the surety of your inspection. Make us good shepherds who attend to your flock.

The Faithfulness Principle

Scripture:
(7)“How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores.
(8) They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife. Jeremiah 5:7-8

Observation: Jeremiah describes two kinds of unfaithfulness—Spiritual unfaithfulness, as people leave their God to pursue other gods (7) and marital unfaithfulness, as men leave their wives to “neigh” for other wives (8). I think there is a connection: Infidelity in one area leads to infidelity in another.

Application: I have discovered that unfaithfulness in one area of my life inevitably leads to unfaithfulness in another area. To use another metaphor, when the walls of my life are broken down in one area, say my purity or my time with God, then the walls seems to crumble in other areas as well. It is a ripple effect. The good news is that when I seek God and rebuild walls in one area, get one area under control, then the other walls are easier to rebuild and maintain. So the simple act of repenting in one area, and beginning to be faithful in that area actually helps strengthen the other areas as well. For me, one of the easiest walls to ignore is this devotional time with God. When I neglect it, other areas of my life begin to crumble. When I maintain it, God shows me how to rebuild other walls. Jeremiah discovered this principle: Faithfulness breeds faithfulness and unfaithfulness breeds unfaithfulness.

Prayer: God, let me pay attention to the walls of my life. Help me continue to be faithful spiritually, so I do not breed unfaithfulness in my marriage, like the people of Jeremiah’s day did. Keep me passionately pursuing you. Thanks for your principle of faithfulness, and for your power to change me.