Scripture
34 “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.” Luke 13:34
Observation
Jesus knew Jerusalem. He was there in the beginning. He knew her more intimately than any of the learned scholars could ever know. He felt joy of her birth and the pain of her continual betrayal. Jesus compares her to babies who need protection and refuse it from Him. In Hosea, she is his wife and prostitutes herself out to other men. When Jesus utters these words, I can imagine Him replaying in His mind all of her rejections. He is not angry, but sorrowfull. Perhaps He sheds a tear. She has broken His heart over and over again and yet He still loves her and will die to save her.
Application
How many times have I told Jesus that I want to know Him more? I sing it in song, I pray it before starting the day, I tell Him I desire to know His heart. Yet, I dislike reading the Old Testament. It is so full of pain and betrayal. I feel like screaming at the Israelites for their treatment of God. The choices seem so clear when I read it, because I know the end of the story. But, as I am reading the Old Testament, Jesus is showing me His heart. He is showing me what He felt watching history unfold. If I truley want to know Him, I must feel the pain and sorrow He felt. I must relive the history He endured. But He will be there with me; sharing His heart, his pain, His reasonings, and help me apply them to my life today. He will show me how to not repeat their mistakes and how to live like those who remained faithful to Him. He will be my guide and I will be His companion as He reveals His heart to me. This is what I have asked of Him.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank-you so much for enduring the pain, not just of your death, but the pain of our betrayal and rejection. Thank-you for saving us even though we broke Your heart. Thank-you for sharing Yourself with me. Help me to understand Your heart as I read through Your word. Help me to apply it to my life to make me more like You.
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