Grieving the Heart of God
By: Bill Burk
The Bible teaches that the heart of the God of heaven can be grieved (Genesis 6:7). The weeping of Jesus over His people’s indifference and their rejection of Him shows just how sorrowful deity becomes when men disobey (Mat. 23:37; Luke 19:41). None of us should ever want to be responsible for grieving the heart of God but rather we should seek to bless heaven’s throne room (Luke 15:7,10). In order not to grieve the heart of God, we should take note of the following.
1. We grieve the
heart of God by rejecting the gospel. The good news of Jesus came at a very high
price (John 3:16; Rom. 5:6-9; 8:32). God desires all men to be saved and to come
to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9). He fashioned the plan of
salvation even before the foundation of the world (Rom. 8:28-29; Eph. 1:3-5;
3:1-13; Rev. 13:8). Everything He has ever done has been for the purpose of
saving our souls. How heart breaking it must be for the Lord when the masses
turn their backs to Him (Mat. 7:13-14). Let us not grieve the Lord by refusing
to obey His gospel (Mark 16:16). If any of us haven’t obeyed, let us do so
before it is too late.
2. We grieve the heart of God when we drift away from the gospel and neglect it.
Hebrews 2:1-3 proves it is possible to slip and be careless with the gospel.
Drifting and neglect happen when we allow things to capture our attention and
draw us away from the Lord (cf. Mark 4:13-20). When we forget the one thing that
matters most we slip from our moorings and eventually, if we do not come to our
senses, neglect the great salvation. Should we die in such a condition or should
the Lord return and find us unprepared there is no escape (Heb. 2:3).
3. We grieve the heart of God when we refuse to take a stand for the gospel. In
order to take a stand we must first be willing to give ourselves entirely to the
Lord (2 Cor. 8:5). In order to courageously live for the Lord there can be no
middle ground mentality (1 Kings 18:26). For the stalwart soldier of the cross
(2 Tim. 2:3) there can be no room for “doublemindedness” (Jas. 1:8; 4:10). He
will be completely and one hundred percent on the Lord’s side (Mat. 6:24;
12:30). Then, because of his singular devotion, when push comes to shove he will
stand up for what is right and true. Does this sound like each of us? If not, we
should be seriously worried that we have caused our God to experience sorrow.
4. We grieve the heart of God when we do not grow in the gospel. The Bible
stresses the need for each of us to “grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). That we
must give diligence to this matter is also stressed in the same epistle (2 Pet.
1:5-7). Following in the steps and becoming more godly in our characters is not
an option (1 John 2:6; Eph. 5:1). When our spiritual growth remains stagnant we
can rest assured that God’s heart breaks. He has wonderful plans for us, yet we
must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Phi. 2:12) if the Lord
is going to complete in us what He has begun (Phi. 1:6).
God’s heart can be grieved. Let us make every legitimate effort to please our heavenly Father that he might rejoice in us rather than sorrow. Are you grieving the heart of God?