Greetings again my Brethren. This month, my friend, we will look at probably one of the strangest emotions of God – His grief. Who would think the God who created the heavens and the earth would grieve? The God who is the ancient of times: the beginning and the end. The all knowing God who is eternal would grieve as we do if we would lose something we hold near and dear to our heart? Yes as strange as it may sound, it is true God grieves. Now God does not grieve over things like we would do if we lost our favourite shirt or dog oh no, my friend God grieves over man and His waywardness. Did you know man is God’s most favourite creation, God made man special and He loves man more than anything in this world, even more than the earth and the stars. Funny how some people worship the earth and the stars and yet deny the very existence of God. This is the open rebellion of sin against God in the environmental movement in the world today, denying the creator while worshipping His creation.
In the Book of Romans Paul told the Church at Rome, “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” (Romans 1:25) Here (there is nothing new under the sun) some Christians were worshipping pagan idols and mixing in other religious practices and traditions while worshipping a holy God. Well today there is no real difference, many denominational Christians and many respected leaders of so called faith have embraced the liberal environmental and green movements that is anti-Christ and anti-word of God. God made man for the earth and out of the earth; Adam means red clay and God gave Adam (man) domination (Genesis 1:26-28) over the entire earth while charging man with the responsibility and duty of caring for the earth (of which man does a pretty good job), but the liberal environmental and green movement folks of today foolishly disagree man has done a good job and has taken it to the next level by not just being a good steward of the earth, but worshipping the creation and not the creator just like all of the animal rights groups who will do, say, and spend all they have to save the life of an animal while sitting on their hands while millions of human babies every year are slaughtered in the abortion mills. Yes there is nothing new under the sun. This was the same reason and because of the same spirit of man God said just five short Chapters in Genesis, “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.” (Genesis 6:6-7) God was grieved in His heart not because He made man, but because (just like today) “GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)
If God was grieved with man then I wonder how God feels about man today? This sounds like today, “that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Just watch the news (maybe we should not) or read the newspaper this is the heart condition of man apart from the word of God in their lives. I do not believe man in Genesis was more evil than today. Oh how God is grieved in His heart with man today; shaking our fist in defiance in His face. Oh how we deny Him and His power. I wonder why we think He will not smite us as He did in Genesis?
And even in the New Testament we can find where God was grieved with His chosen people. “Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 12Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.”(Hebrews 3:10-12) After God almost destroyed all of mankind (saved Noah and his family of seven Genesis 6:18)) and every living thing of all flesh (saved all of the animals both clean and unclean Genesis 6:19) He created on the earth, He gave man another chance through Noah and God blessed man and he did multiply and flourish as well as the animals saved. But in due time man was up to his old wayward ways (this is a recurrent theme in the Scriptures) and God called His chosen (the Jewish people, but not more chosen than us) people out of Goshen Egypt to fulfill His promise to the world through them, but “They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.” And God was grieved with that generation and ”So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.” Here in Hebrews the writer (I believe to be Paul) was warning the people, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” What a strong warning and admonishment to us to take heed to ourselves and not to follow in their steps, because God was grieved with them. As with the folks in Genesis their carcasses fell in the wilderness. Beloved let us not grieve God. I notice this grieving takes place in the heart, both in God’s and man. Grieving is an issue of the heart; with God He grieved in His heart and with us it is a matter of heart obedience to God. Let us learn the lessons of Hebrews and Genesis because our loving Father grieves at our disobedience. Who would of thought God grieves? But now we see it is when man rebels and walks contrary to God and His word does He grieve. I wonder how He feels today?
Next month we will lighten up things some and look at the next emotion of God His joy.
