BROKEN HEARTED KING

Hosea 2:20  "I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord."

As I was reading Hosea this morning, reading how once the Lord wanted Israel to know how they had hurt Him.  Can you imagine our God, our Mighty God, heart breaking over the continued unfaithfulness of His people, His chosen children?  Can you understand what it must have been like to constantly restore only to once again be hurt by His people, then punish but loving them so much, wooing them once again and restoring what He had taken away.  I believe there are some parents that probably have some idea what this must feel like.  It seems like nothing our Lord could do would seal His relationship with His children.

As His heartache began to intensify, I feel that God knew the heartache He had suffered was only the beginning; He loved His people so much that He was going to give everything to have the relationship with them that He so desired, that He so craved. All He was, all He had done, all creation was nothing without the love He wanted, the love He deserved.  Knowing that He would suffer the ultimate anguish possible, He released His Glory to be birthed on earth.  His Son would be sent as a sacrifice.  Can you sense how lonely it was in Heaven as Jesus walked the earth.  God was with Jesus but now Jesus was a  man, a man that was now experiencing every emotion, every sting of rejection humanly that God had experienced but it was delivered personally.  Jesus would not retaliate as God had when His people rejected Him time after time.  Jesus was nothing but love and mercy.  This was what our God wanted to show His children.  He wanted to show them love, mercy, grace.  Jesus would be tempted of every temptation of man, yet He would not sin.  He could not sin as He was the Lord.  He knew no sin.  We, as humans, can not imagine knowing no sin.  Perhaps before we were born, as we were being carried inside our mothers, innocent as a baby not knowing sin, untouched because we were being protected from the outside influences of the world.  Let me stop for a minute and say that this is how we can be when we give our hearts and lives to our God.  He will enclose us in this protective barrier of His grace, His love where no we cannot be touched.  We are still in the world exposed to everything, but being In Him means that our mind and hearts are totally in Him and we can escape the harm of the enemy. This is not to say we won't get sick, won't have problems, but if we rest in the Lord, these things will only be an outward thing, it will not affect our spirits, our souls, as we are hidden in Christ.

Jesus walked the earth.  I know our God was distressed as He saw how Jesus was treated. I can imagine His wanting to strike dead the soldiers as they beat Jesus, as they whipped Him to shreds, but for love.  Jesus could have struck back at any time, but that was not the plan.  He knew when He came to earth it would end in death, but it was the Father's plan, the Father's will.  He knew His Father wanted to have such an intimate relationship with His children, the same type of relationship He had with His Son, and Jesus loved the Father, Jesus loved us, He wanted to be able to share His Father with us.

Have you ever had your best friend, someone you loved so much just turn on you, all of a sudden say something to you that really hurt?  Can you imagine the hurt Jesus felt knowing Peter would deny Him.  I think even knowing this, somehow perhaps Jesus was wishing it would not happen.  He could have made it not happen, but it was not to be.  He loved Peter so much.  The heartache increased as Jesus walked that hill with His cross.  And finally hanging on the cross, looking up to His Father, the heartache of Both, Son and Father, as the Father turned away as Jesus begin to draw all man's sins upon Himself, freeing us from all sin, making the way for the sweet relationship to be had with the Father.  Jesus, filled with all the sins, all the illnesses, all the wickedness of the world, breaking chains of the prisoners, lifting burdens from the weary, breathing His last breath with eyes looking up to the Heavens, crying out to His Father, "It Is Finished". 

All that could be done was now done.  We all know the beautiful resurrection story.  And it would make me so happy to say "and they lived happily everafter".  But that is fairy tales and this is real life to all of us.  Our God, so broken hearted that He did all He could do to restore us to Himself.  Jesus, suffered heartache so deeply as He came and was treated so badly, but loved us anyway and died to give us to the Father.  So we could become one with Him; one with the Father.  Jesus gave us everything we needed to be restored to our God.  He sent the Holy Spirit to us to give us direction, advice, comfort and love on a constant basis, we would never be alone.  And how many times have we broken the heart of the Holy Spirit with our lives, our actions, our disrespect.  And yet, we, because of the sacrifice of Jesus, can come to the foot of the cross time, after time, and be washed in that blood, that blood of a broken hearted King, and be restored to the Father.  For now the Father, our God, only sees us through the righteousness of His Son, Jesus, and knows not of our sin, as He casts our sin far from Him.  The Holy Spirit convicts, the Lord forgives, God loves and restores. 

We do have a happy ending offered to all of us.  Walk in the Light of the Lord, love our God with all our heart and soul, and love our neighbor as ourselves.  Worship our Lord with all our being, thank Him for all He has done for us and spend time with our Lord.  All creation was made for us to enjoy with the Father.  The Father wants to share His creation with us, to walk with us and talk with us.  Make time to spend with the Lord.  Give to our Lord what He so desires, what we should desire above all, an intimate relationship with Him.  Let our Lord draw you to Himself, become the intended, loving, worshipful bride for the Bridegroom with a heart for only Him, never to stray, never to break His heart again.

12-03-11