Jesus' Broken Heart, 7/5/14

Friends, this is a sobering message but there is good news in it for those who are willing to be sober and humble and listen. If you will endure to the end of what I write today there is a message of hope.

Yesterday morning when I got up, the Lord was singing to me an old song from the old "Negro Spiritual" genre, wonderful, old deep spiritual songs written by the American slave fathers who endured so much and had such great faith. The song goes: "Nobody knows the trouble I see, nobody knows but Jesus..." He was telling me of the pain in his heart over how we have treated him in America. He has blessed us so richly and we have been so very very ungrateful. We have trampled on his goodness to us and traded in the peace that comes with obedience for the hell that comes with lusting after the things of the flesh. In the morning and then later in the night I cried and cried and tired to bless the King and console him in his grief over a nation he has loved and given himself for with such total selflessness but we have rejected him. I believe one of the reasons he was telling me of his grief yesterday was that he is well aware that on July 4th America cheerfully celebrates its worship of itself with much more energy than it ever shows in worship of him who is the source of every good thing we have aver had as a nation. Nobody and understand his pain over this. Finally I went to sleep exhausted. This morning as I went to the scripture, he led me to:

Psalm 75:2-3New King James Version (NKJV)

2 “When I choose the proper time,

I will judge uprightly.

3 The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved;

I set up its pillars firmly.

I believe he is saying that judgement will now begin in earnest, we have already been being judged but we have not repented as we would have been wise to do, so now hew has to take it to a new level and it will get very very serious. He did not want this, he has done everything he could to get us to turn from our wicked ways but we refused to respond so now he has no choice to discipline us more sternly. He wooed and wooed and then finally collapsed in pain over our stiff-neckedness and refusal to change and he began mourn over our love for our sin. But now he has cried his tears and he will dry them and rise to his feet and begin to meet out judgements that will be very very painful for us as a nation.

Friends, it is very dangerous to refuse to listen to the warnings of the prophets. It is very tempting to say, " You are so negative" or "I don't like that" or "God doesn't judge anymore" or "That scares me , I'm not listening" but the fact is that running from reality in your head won't stop it from breaking in upon you in real time in every dimension of your life. God loves us, but he is HOLY and his standards do not change. He is a loving Father who disciplines his children where we stray so as to keep us from destroying ourselves completely.

Here is the hope: for those who are willing to acknowledge that we are in deep trouble with God and are willing to humble themselves and seek his face, he will surely meet us where we are a if we endure in repentance and do not faint. For those who turn to him this way he will give us things that are better than what we have ever had, but only on his terms. He wants to help us get on track but we have to come to him humbly and admit that we are a mess and set our hearts to want him more than we want to keep our lives the way we want them. There is great blessing coming coming as things get heavy, but it will only come to those who are in the perfect will of God for their lives, anywhere outside elf that we are vulnerable.

Gods loves us and wants America to be healthy and free, but when we get it all twisted and wind up cheering louder for the fireworks that we ever do for the Risen Christ who gives us all the breath of life and a chance at eternal salvation, and beyond that, glory with him forever in his Kingdom, then we are in line for a serious reality adjustment. But if we will truly put him first and love, worship, follow and obey him as he deserves, he will surely bless us beyond our wildest imaginations and give us a whole new America that is better than it ever was even in the very best moments of the past. God loves you, so give him everything and you will never regret it.

Steve Pursell 6/14