heart broken Archives – Sonshine's Journal

Job 35-37 We have been following Job and his friends as they respond to his suffering. The young Elihu continues to wax eloquently and finally near the end he poses a question that has been asked for centuries: whom or what do you seek when you are in distress. The world seeks to find help in themselves or other avenues but often leaves God out of the equation. Sometimes they never seek God…read to the end…. It is disheartening when that happens but again we present the truth but the results lay in the hand of the receiver and God.

job 35a

Elihu says it really doesn’t matter, God is God and He is not at all bothered about whether we do good or bad. At that, we want to stop and say “whoa!” Not affected? Doesn’t care? What presumption! Elihu is wrong on both accounts and we need look no further than Ezekiel chapter 20 and you get a very different picture. There the elders come to Ezekiel inquiring about life and wanting to know when this exile will end. What they got must have been a deafening wake-up call. God answers their inquiry with this: “I will not allow you to inquire of Me.” God was definitely affected. He told Ezekiel that when men leave God out of the equation He is grieved and broken-hearted—especially when He has called you. Rejecting God has serious consequences and without Him, you are bereft as a boat without a sail.

Elihu is right about one thing: Storms come that we may seek His face and His understanding. He is also right in his description about God: He is all of splendor and more. We cannot attain to Him. God is God and man is man.

The question is will you seek Him or will you be like my neighbor who said, I never needed God in all of my life and I don’t need him now—as he breathed his last. I thought it was hard enough to hear my grandmother say that but then when my neighbor said that my heart felt like it had been run over with a bulldozer. Men choose their destiny…don’t ever forget that. When you need God don’t be like these two examples. Seek Him while He may be found!

The psalmist, (Ps 36) after pondering and meditating upon what he saw and experienced, came to the conclusion that men truly are totally depraved and God is their only hope. As we read Mark 11 we see that truth in living color as Jesus enters Jerusalem and leaves in tears. What did he see and experience that would bring about his broken heart?

As Jesus walked about the temple courts he was joined by those to whom God had given the privileges of teaching his people the very sacred word of God. They were correct to question Jesus’ authority for to them it had been given the right to distinguish between false and true teachers and prophets. However, as Jesus said on more than one occasion: Joh 14:11 if you do not believe me, believe because of the miraculous deeds themselves, these are the proof of who I am. They had seen the mighty miracle of the blind man made whole and they scoffed, they had seen the paralytic pick up his bed and walk and were amazed yet over and over their hearts little by little hardened beyond repair. They understood his parable of the vineyard that spoke of their sin. Yet their unwillingness to accept him as the True Messiah prophesied in the very sacred writings they studied so eagerly pointed to their true heart. And so when they came and questioned they answered Jesus’ question with “We don’t know” about John’s baptism– for they feared the crowd more than God.

Men who fear men more than God fall into the trap that Solomon noted: “The fearof peoplebecomes a snare, but whoever trustsin the Lordwill be set on high.”[Prov 29] As Jesus noted their lack of reverence for truth his heart was broken and this is why our “Messiah would be firm and resolute amidst all contempt and scorn which he would meet; that he had made up his mind to endure it, and would not shrink from any kind or degree of suffering which would be necessary to accomplish the great work in which he was engaged.” [Easton]

Where are you today? Revering the Savior that died in your place for your sin Or are you trapped by your legalistic self-righteousness like the Pharisees? Remember this verse: “if we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” [1Jo 1:8] But on the flip side is this marvelous promise that awaits those who come to him in reverence and humility: He is able to keep you from falling, and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, without blemish before his glorious presence, [Jude]

Tag: heart broken

Seek God while He may be found…

“The Worst of Men and the Best of God—”