Skip to main content

Rend Your Heart

             Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. (Joel 2:13)

 

            This passage brings to mind the whole of the Law, which was given to the people of Israel. It said, “If you obey, this is what will happen. If you disobey, that is what will happen.”  The Israelites told Moses that they were afraid to hear from God anymore and that he should speak with God and then tell them. And God gave them their request. Those two facts may not seem to go together, but both may be seen as God giving the Israelites control of their relationship with Him. Obedience brought blessing. Disobedience brought curses. Simple.

            But God didn’t generally bring the curse immediately. And often, He seemed to go through the parent’s routine of “I’m going to count to three, and then you’re going to get a spanking! One…Two…I’m warning you…Three. Three-and-a-half… (pulls the child close)…Last chance…” When the child agrees to do as told, the parent either doesn’t spank the child or spanks the child with less force than originally intended.

          The problem is that too often when we (as children) agree to do what we’re told, it’s not because we love our Father or regret what we are doing. It’s because it will get us what we want. We play the part of being contrite, effectively tearing our clothing in our grief, but our hearts don’t change. We may even intend our hearts to change, but the process is too long and hard. We end up back as we were – because our hearts haven’t changed.

          Some see judgment coming. Now is the time for each of us to prayerfully examine our hearts and begin the process of rending them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more