Last time we spoke about how God’s heart can be broken by His own people. We see it throughout the Bible and challenged ourselves not to be one of His people that breaks His heart.
Today, we’re going to examine God’s grace and mercy toward us, His children, even when we might break His heart. Understanding that we can break His heart makes His grace and mercy even more powerful when He forgives us. Let’s face it: it is only when we see our own sinfulness and its impact on our heavenly Father that we can fully appreciate His overwhelming grace, mercy, and love when He forgives.
Let’s talk about God’s grace starting with some familiar New Testament passages.
3 So He told them this parable: 4 “What man among you, who has 100 sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, 6 and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ 7 I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need repentance. (Lk 15:3-7)
8 “Or what woman who has 10 silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she finds it, she calls her women friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin I lost!’ 10 I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.” (Lk 15:8-10)
These two parables show how God’s people can go astray and get lost. If we’re honest, we can see ourselves in the lyrics of the old hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”. In that hymn, the writer asks God to “bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love”. That’s you and me. We have wandering hearts that are prone to wander away from God like a lost sheep.
More importantly though, these two parables show something far more important – God’s love, mercy, and grace. Both show God’s relentless pursuit of His children that have gone astray and the joy of when they are restored to their proper relationship with Him.
Think about this for a moment. Even though you may wander off from God willingly, His love for you will drive Him to seek and rescue you. That is one of the main themes in Luke:
Jesus told him, “… For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” (Lk 19:10)
Let’s see this played out with a living example from the book of Hosea. As a reminder, the prophet Hosea married a prostitute as God told him. This was symbolic of God’s relationship to Israel who had committed idolatry (spiritual adultery) with the false god Baal. After some time, Hosea’s prostitute wife returned to her life of adultery and was owned by another man and probably enslaved to her. That’s where we pick up the story:
Then the Lord said to me, “Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” 2 So I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and five bushels of barley. 3 I said to her, “You must live with me many days. Don’t be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way toward you.” 4 For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idols. 5 Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come with awe to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days. (Hos 3:1-5)
God telling Hosea to rescue his adulterous wife is a model of His love to forgive and rescue His adulterous people. Chapter 2 of Hosea shows exactly what that forgiveness and rescue of Israel will look like in the future:
14 Therefore, I am going to persuade her, lead her to the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her vineyards back to her and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt. 16 In that day— this is the Lord’s declaration—
you will call Me, “My husband,” and no longer call Me, “My Baal.” 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth; they will no longer be remembered by their names. 18 On that day I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will shatter bow, sword, and weapons of war in the land and will enable the people to rest securely. 19 I will take you to be My wife forever. I will take you to be My wife in righteousness, justice, love, and compassion. 20 I will take you to be My wife in faithfulness, and you will know Yahweh. (Hos 2:14-20)
Even though you may break God’s heart through your wandering, He seeks and pursues you out of His great love. Notice in Hosea 2 how tender and loving God is to Israel even though they were committed to Baal. He tenderly persuaded her and brought her back out to the wilderness … away from all the noise and distractions of life … to speak tenderly to her and win her back. In Israel’s sin she was in the Valley of Achor, which means trouble (sinful living leads to life troubles), but God turned that valley into a gateway of hope through His love, grace, and mercy. He blessed her with many things, took her as His wife, and revealed Himself to her so that she knew Him better.
Think about and appreciate God’s love, mercy, and grace toward you even when you break His heart. Understand that God pursues you to bring you back into a close relationship with you when you wander off into the world or sin. He’s trying to bring you back even though you broke His heart. His love, mercy, and grace are pursuing you to help you … answer His call and turn back to Him.
If you’re living right and close to God, great. Keep it up and try to remain fully devoted and attached to Him (Jn 15:4-7). But know this, when you wander and break His heart, He still loves you and will seek you to restore you into a right relationship with Him. Yes, He loves you that much. You can never be separated permanently from Him (Jn 10:27-30). God’s grace is greater than your sin even when it increases (Rom 5:20) but that doesn’t mean we should use His grace as an excuse to sin (Rom 6:20).
Think about it
Do you realize that you are a sheep that can wander away from God at times? Can you think of a time when you wandered from God even if only for a day or two?
How does it make you feel knowing that God will seek you when you wander off?
How does it make you feel knowing that He will seek to bring you back even though you broke His heart?
What does God seeking you after you break His heart tell you about Him and His character?
How do you think you should respond now to God’s love, mercy, and humility?
Take the time out now to think about God’s grace and humility to pursue you when you break His heart and wander off. Praise, thank, and honor Him.
