What is the heart of God?

Luke 19:35-44  They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus  on it.  As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting: "BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." But Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!" When He approached  Jerusalem,  He saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."

This week approximately 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem as predicted in Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Here He is presenting himself as their Messiah, as He overlooked the city He began to weep knowing that they're rejection would condemn them. What a different picture we see than what much of the world paints. God is mean and intolerant, anxious to judge and quick to strike.

One of the reasons for this of course is because the world does not understand that God and Jesus Christ are one. To them God is some distant cruel deity, that enjoys frightening the beings He created, and loves to play games with them. Jesus on the other hand is a really nice guy, who really understands us and tries to buffer God’s harshness. He is always forgiving, never harsh about sin – except to the religious leaders, is gentle to the point of being effeminate. Accepts everyone and everything they do. This is such a corrupt picture of Who God is. Scripture states that God is one God in three persons. Explain this? I cannot and anyone who thinks they can is a liar. How can anyone with a finite mind explain Someone Who is infinite? God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are all God and every attribute they have they share. Both judgment and mercy, righteousness and long suffering, justice and forgiveness are possessed by all three persons of the Godhead.

Let's rethink what Jesus shows us about the heart of God in this passage. The Maker of mankind is looking down on the city that He chose as his own, where the people He chose to represent Him to the world live. He is their Messiah, yet He knows in 5 days they will not only reject Him, but murder Him. The gods of man and myth would lash out in anger and destroy all the souls in that city. However, the true God, the God man does not do so, instead He weeps as He considers what His people are missing out on and the judgment that they will bring upon themselves. Having denied their Messiah and making it clear to God they did not desire His plan, God turns them over to their own ways. In 70 AD General Titus from Rome levels the city of Jerusalem and slaughters most of the inhabitants.

Let us consider what this teaches us about the heart of our God. I have dealt with many children of God who suffer greatly from fear or guilt over their sin. I'm not talking about rebellious children who love their sin and refuse to turn from it; they should fear the chastening hand of a loving Father. All good fathers will protect their children from danger, even if it means having to discipline them. God knows that sin is poison and will destroy His children, so when they refuse to turn from it, as a loving Father He will chasten them. However, I am talking about children of God who struggle with sin, hate sin, want to turn from sin, yet are in bondage to guilt or fear due to a wrong concept of God's attitude towards sin. God does hate sin, but he hates even more how sin destroys those that He loves, this breaks His heart. God's first reaction to our sin is grief and a desire that we flee from it. If we would just understand that, all the fear and the guilt will evaporate. It will be replaced instead by a healthy confession of sin and repentance that will lead us back to an intimate relationship with our God.

On this Holy Week let us consider the heart of our Lord, He doesn't want us to miss the opportunities and plans that He has for us in our life. When we choose the wrong path, before judgment comes a sincere desire for us to turn back to Him. After that comes grief of our Maker's heart, due to the reality  that his children refuse to see or listen, and will instead reap what their sin produces. Only after trying to reach us in His love, if we don't respond, the judgment of His chastisement may fall upon us.

Some questions we can ponder concerning this truth:

Do I see God’s conviction as restrictions to my fun?

Do I resent God's desire to be involved in all of my life?

The last time I fell into sin, did I first think God was mad at me, or that He was hurt and concerned for my well-being?

Am I open for the plans that God has for my life, no matter how He brings them, will I be willing to listen?