The Heartbreaks of our Heavenly Father

"Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit." Galatians 6:7-8 NLT

We are living in war zones all over the world. We are bombarded daily with messages and news of the Covid 19 pandemic in the mass media and over the Internet. We are forced to face the grim realities of disease, depression and death. But the hard truth is that we have been in a spiritual war zone ever since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ:

"For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12 NLT

We can see Covid 19 as a judgment of God. Or we can see it from the perspective of the cross of Christ to understand and feel the heartbreaks of God. Ten years ago I was worshipping in Covenant Community Methodist Church on Palm Sunday and I was touched by the words of the song, Hosanna:

"Break my heart from what breaks yours."

It gave me the inspiration to share the following thoughts in my book, Living With Our Heavenly Father:

"Parents experience helplessness and pain when they are not able to comfort their crying child or when their children suffer through acts of disobedience. Likewise, God suffers with us in our pain. As our Heavenly Father, His heart is broken when the church brings dishonour to His name, when we destroy and pollute our Father's world, and when we inflict suffering on others.

During Easter of 2010, the Catholic Church was rocked by the scandal of the paedophilic Catholic priests in some of the Western countries. It was a reminder of how the church can be infected by evil. A couple of weeks later, news of the major environmental disaster with the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on 20th April 2010 hit the headlines. We human beings have been irresponsible stewards of God's creation. It was a price we have to pay for our technological advances in transport and our dependence on oil.

Man's inhumanity towards one another in wars has also caused untold suffering and death to millions of innocent women and children. In the face of human suffering, our pride leads us to accuse God of being impotent, angry or uncaring instead of empathising with the brokenness of the heart of our Heavenly Father.

In the face of evil and suffering in the world, we need to understand the pain God suffers when mankind misuse and abuse His blessings - when we exercise our free will to gratify our selfish desires instead of seeking to bring His kingdom on earth. Jesus died a horrible death on the cross with the anguish cry, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" to show us that God knows and is with us in our pain and suffering. 

To grow deeper into the love of God, we can see our heartbreaks as opportunities to understand some of the things that are breaking God's heart. We need to learn to walk to the heart beat of our Abba Father instead of marching to the drum beat of the world."

God is using the Covid 19 virus to wake us up:

"Actually, it is shameful to even talk about the things those people do in secret. But the light makes clear how wrong those things are. Yes, everything is made clear by the light. This is why we say, “Wake up, you who are sleeping! Rise from death, and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:12-14 ERV

The Covid 19 virus is a wake up call to seek answers to the existential questions of life:

What am I living for?

What is the purpose of life?

Am I worshipping the gods of wealth, health and longevity?

Am I trying to get a passport to heaven after I die? Or am I seeking God and waiting on Him to transform my fears, anxiety, anger and doubts - my little hells life on earth into experiences of heaven on earth through God's Presence and Peace? 

Last year, I had journalled the following thoughts:

"The world has become a hotbed of corruption, violence, greed, drunkenness and gluttonous orgies.' Are we righteous, blameless and walking in close fellowshp with God or are we caught up in self-gratifying addictions and caustic ways?"

"God's Word says that He lives in us, but some people find this truth difficult to understand. We have the treasure of God's promise within us, but many who believe in Jesus never experience the joy of His presence or of continual fellowship with Him."

Like the Pharisees, I can study and even memorise verses from the bible but I had fail to practice paying attention and to be aware of the presence of God in my daily life. I may even be tempted to deny Christ like the apostle Peter. I have also often failed to follow the example of Nicodemus to speak up for Jesus:

“Have you been led astray, too?” the Pharisees mocked. “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? This foolish crowd follows him, but they are ignorant of the law. God’s curse is on them!” Then Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, spoke up. “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” he asked. They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—no prophet ever comes from Galilee!” John 7:47-52 NLT

We will reap what we sow - this is a spiritual law. Jesus came to give us a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you. When we help each other with one another's troubles we are obeying the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2 ERV) The problems facing our world today is beyond politics and economics - we need a radical reframing of our thoughts towards death and money. Our minds need to be renewed and our hearts recharged so that we not live to satisfy our sinful nature but to live a life of praise and gratitude for God's mercy and grace.

Caring for the dying opened my eyes to our need to create space for God. Jesus has given us the fourth key to the Kingdom of Heaven:

"God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied." Matthew 5:6 NLT.

God's perfect will is for justice to flow like a river and  goodness to flow like a stream that never becomes dry. (Amos 5:24 ERV) Where there is justice, there will be no guilt or fear and we can face death with joy and peace. We will eradicate poverty when kindness fills our hearts instead of greed. The early disciples gave us an inspiring model of a co-operative society to follow:

"The whole group of believers was united in their thinking and in what they wanted. None of them said that the things they had were their own. Instead, they shared everything. With great power the apostles were making it known to everyone that the Lord Jesus was raised from death. And God blessed all the believers very much. None of them could say they needed anything. Everyone who owned fields or houses sold them. They brought the money they got and gave it to the apostles. Then everyone was given whatever they needed." Acts 4:32-35 ERV

Andy Baker shared in today's Upper Room devotional that  "God wants the church to be a family who cares for one another. We can care for one another by thanking the people around us for the blessings they bring to our lives and showing concern for the trials they may be facing. We can look beyond the church walls of our church buildings to tell those who are heading into "war zones" that they are not alone." It is an insight that is so relevant for us today.

This is the time for the Church to rise up as the Body of Christ, for Christians to be the temple of the Holy Spirit and for us to remember that we all belong to the family of God. We are at the dawn of a brand new earth in the second decade of the 21st century. May God's Kingdom come on earth as each one of us seek to do His will on earth as it is in heaven. Let us make the following our prayer for it is a prayer that we can be sure that God is patiently waiting to answer:

"Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours"
Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity"