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A TIME TO REND
What would God say of us
today?
Are we doing good or
evil? It all depends on whether or not we are
preparing our hearts unto Him.
In order to do
so, we must see sin as He sees it - as utterly
despicable.
We must
turn from all rebellion, stubbornness, and disobedience.
And we must
rend our hearts in shame and sorrow for sin.
Job 11:13-15 says - "If
thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward
Him; If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not
wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles. For then shalt thou lift up thy
face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear."
This message deals with the solemn business of
returning unto the Lord.
In 1 Samuel 7:3, Samuel, the Prophet, told the
Israelites that if they had any intentions of ever returning unto
the Lord, they would have to put away idolatry
and prepare their hearts unto the Lord.
In the opening passage from the Book of Job, Zophar, in his dialogue
with Job, tells us that, in order to prepare our hearts,
we have to deal with sin in our lives.
Then and only then will we ever be in right standing with God and
enjoy His blessings.
What does it mean to
prepare our hearts unto the Lord? What does it entail?
The word "prepare" means to direct aright,
fix aright, be morally stedfast, and be restored. The heart is the
seat of the appetites, emotions, and passions. Hence, to
prepare the heart is to set aright or restore the
appetites, emotions, and passions so that they are firmly
established in the Word of God.
How do we go about preparing our hearts unto
the Lord? The Scriptures give us three basic
procedures to follow -
1. We Must See Sin As Ruinous
It's a known fact that we generally do not do what we hate. In order
to hate sin enough to avoid it at all costs in our lives, we have to
see it from God's perspective.
Ezekiel 18:30 implies that sin
is very deadly - "...so iniquity
shall not be your ruin."
It acts as a stumbling block or a means or occasion for stumbling,
It's the cause of our faltering or falling away along the pilgrim's
path.
Unless repented of, it actually becomes our
"ruin."
Psalm 34:21 tells us - "Evil
shall slay the wicked..."
Sin destroys those who are rebellious toward God.
In fact, the very Sin that people delight in
oftentimes becomes their bane or source of Ruin.
Sin will either destroy us or correct us.
The Prophet Hosea admonished God's backslidden people by saying - "O
Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself..."(Hosea 13:9)
The Prophet Jeremiah told them - "Thine
own wickedness shall correct thee..."(Jeremiah 2:19)
Which will it be?
Destruction or Correction?
Sin corrupts, mars, spoils, and brings about much
decay. It hinders the bountiful blessings of God in our lives.
We see this evidenced in Jeremiah's words -
"Your iniquities have turned away these
things, and your sins have withholden good things from you."(Jeremiah
5:25)
It's the cause of most of our troubles as proven by the words of
this same Prophet - "Hast thou not
procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy
God, when He led thee by the way?"(Jeremiah 2:17)
On the other hand, it serves as God's instrument to chasten, punish,
discipline, or admonish us - "Thine
own wickedness shall correct thee..."(Jeremiah 2:19)
- in hopes that we will turn before it ruins
us.
How do we see Sin today?
Do we see it as the destructive force that it
is?
Do we avoid it at all costs?
At first, God may use our own Sin to correct and
chasten us by withholding good things from us. But if not swiftly
repented of, it will effect our Total Ruin some
day.
2. We Must Repent Of Sin In Our Lives
Throughout the Scriptures, we find the call to God's people to
repent or turn back to Him from all of
their rebellion and perversity.
Ezekiel 18:30 calls us to
"...repent, and turn yourselves from all your
transgressions..."
Joel 2:12 calls us to turn to the Lord with all of
our heart - with "fasting,"
"weeping," and
"mourning" over
sin.
Jeremiah 4:1 admonishes us to be sure to return
unto Him and to no one or nothing else -
"If thou wilt return, O Israel...return unto
Me..."
Zechariah 1:3 promises us that when we turn back to
Him, He - in turn - will return to us -
"...Turn ye unto Me, saith the Lord of hosts,
and I will turn unto you..."
Have we heard this call from God to turn from
all stubbornness, rebellion, and disobedience?
Have we taken heed to the admonitions of the
Prophets of old?
Or are we deceived in that we hear the Word
of the Lord, yet do not obey it?(James 1:22)
3. We Must Rend Our Hearts
The Prophet Joel called for the people of God to
"...rend your heart, and not your garments..."(Joel
2:13)
The rending of the garments was an
expression of some overpowering emotional grief, terror, or anger.
For instance, Reuben, when returning unto the pit wherein the
brothers placed Joseph and finding him not there,
"rent his clothes"(Genesis 37:29).
When Jacob saw his son Joseph's robe covered in blood, he
"rent his clothes,"
mourning that an evil beast devoured his son and tore him in pieces(Genesis
37:34).
On hearing of the death of Saul and Jonathan - two of the greatest
warriors in the army of Israel - David
"rent" his clothes and
"likewise all the men that were
with him"(2 Samuel 1:11).
In great anguish of soul, Tamar
"rent her garment of diverse colors" which
symbolized her virginity that was stolen by her brother Amnon when
he connived and forced himself on her(2 Samuel 13:19).
There is no doubt that the
rending of the garment was an expression of
extreme emotional anguish. Yet the Prophet Joel, in a sense, is
saying that God doesn't want from us an outward show
of grief as exemplified here. He is
requiring an inner work of the heart -
"...rend your heart, and not your
garments..."
In this time and age in which we live, many want to settle for a
superficial repentance or turning from
sin. Simple lip service seems to be the accepted form of repentance.
As a result, many lives do not demonstrate a drastic change from
Darkness to Light or from Death unto Life. God is calling for more
than an outward show. He is calling for a rending of the
heart - a tearing in pieces, cutting out, or tearing
away of everything that is defiling and corruptible.
The Scriptures bear witness to the fact that God desires a broken
heart and a contrite or crushed spirit. These are the
two very essential characteristics of true
repentance.
Psalm 34:18 tells us - "The
LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such
as be of a contrite spirit."
Psalm 147:3 tells us - "He
healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds."
Also, Psalm 51:17 tells us - "The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite
heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise."
In other words, to such a heart that is broken and shattered by the
grief and shame of sin, God is ready to hear, help, and grant His
blessing of forgiveness.
Have we rent our hearts
in brokenness over our disobedience to God?
Or are we lighthearted or
nonchalant about repentance from sin?
How important is it that we prepare our hearts unto
the Lord?
According to the Scriptures, it's a matter of either receiving God's
approbation or disapproval on our lives.
For instance, 2 Chronicles 19:3 says of King
Jehoshaphat who prepared His heart unto
the Lord - "Nevertheless there are
good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves
out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God."
On the other hand, it's said of King Rehoboam who did
not prepare his heart unto the Lord -
"And he did evil, because he prepared not
his heart to seek the LORD."(2 Chronicles 12:14)
What would God say of us
today?
Are we doing good or evil?
It all depends on whether or not we are
preparing our hearts unto the Lord.
In order to do so, we must -
...see sin as God sees it - as utterly despicable
...turn from all rebellion, stubbornness, and disobedience
...rend our hearts in shame and sorrow for sin.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 says - "To
every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the
heaven."
Verse 7 tells us
specifically what time it is for us today -
It is
"A time to rend..."
Joel 2:13 concludes by saying - "And
rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your
God..."
May God Bless His Word.
Connie
| © COPYRIGHT Connie Giordano - All Rights Reserved
