30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 21 5-9 WATCH AND PRAY I 09 Luke 21 9 Being in tune with the heart of God
📖 Luke 21:5-9
09May2021 - *Being in tune with the heart of God* - _Luke 21:5-9_ - WATCH AND PRAY I (9) – Bible reading: _Jeremiah 31:18-20_
Friends, we must know that God’s heart breaks over us. He is the loving Father, who gave mankind all things richly to enjoy but we have rebelled against our Father, our Creator, our God. We have lived as though God does not exist. Man thinks it is brainless to refer to God. We think that it is only the weak and the uninformed, who believe in God.
Today, where has man’s intelligence and smartness led him? We are today bewildered, not knowing how to handle our current predicament. With great perplexity, we are thinking as to what next is going to hit the human race.
God is longing for man, who is His creation, His children, His own whom He loves, to return to Him. His heart breaks that we are in sorrow, which is our own making. God is also punishing us, not because He hates us but because He loves us.
It is like the parent, who punishes the disobedient and rebellious child, not out of hatred, but out of love, and longs for the punished child to return to Him and have all the richness and abundance that is with Him and in Him.
The situation though is sad that man, instead of repenting and returning to the Father, has chosen to go further away from God, claiming that he/humanity, is capable to find our own solutions to our crises and that we are confident that we will soon come out on the other side.
The church’s task is to stand in a priestly duty between man and God. We need to be one with the pain of God’s heart. Today, it does not seem as though the church has understood the pain of God’s heart. We are only going to God with tears and we are crying to God to take away the pandemic. Whereas the church should feel the pain of God’s heart and knowing His pain, we must repent on behalf of humanity that is rejecting God. This is the role of the church.
_Luke 21:9 But when you hear of wars and commotions, *do not be terrified*; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately."_
_Matthew 24:6-8 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. (7) For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And *there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places*. (8) All these are the beginning of sorrows._
Let us look at the heart of God.
_Isaiah 1:19-20 *If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land*; (20) But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword"; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken._
God’s heart for man is that we should eat the good of the land but when man chooses to rebel against God, man will experience the sword and all the pestilences which are his own doing.
God is the owner and the earth is the Lord’s. When man disregards the owner, even speaks of the owner being dead and does all the evil in the land, man will have to reap the consequences and the Lord will punish us because He wants to correct and reprove us, for He loves us.
It is in staying under the canopy of God in trust and obedience to Him that we will eat the good of the land.
_Jeremiah 3:12-14 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: 'Return, backsliding Israel,' says the LORD; 'I will not cause My anger to fall on you. *For I am merciful,' says the LORD*; 'I will not remain angry forever. (13) Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the LORD your God, And have scattered your charms To alien deities under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,' says the LORD. (14) "Return, O backsliding children," says the LORD; "for *I am married to you*. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion._
God is our husband. Humanity is His wife. Yes, the church is the bride but when we go back to the beginning, in creation, God was Husband to man. Under the new covenant, God longs for all of humanity to be a part of the church and be His bride. As His wife, He gives us His protection, His care, His provision and His love, if we remain under His authority.
Here is a Husband, who is calling His wife to come back to Him and remain in His shelter and under His authority. That is where the wife will be blessed.
_Jeremiah 31:18-20 “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: 'You have chastised me, and I was chastised, Like an untrained bull; Restore me, and I will return, For You are the LORD my God. (19) Surely, after my turning, I repented; And after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, Because I bore the reproach of my youth.' (20) Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; *Therefore My heart yearns for him*; I will surely have mercy on him, says the LORD._
When we repent and return to Him, He embraces and smothers us with His love and His goodness. He does not want us to be troubled and sorrowful.
If man would understand this and return to God, how glorious it would be but humanity has no desire to repent, return to God and be restored.
The church should be in tune with God’s heart, watching and praying.
*Thought to ponder*
```God is pleading through the church, to man, to be reconciled with God.```