Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 17 July 2022 | Sunday Message
Read Previous Joni And Friends Daily Devotional
TOPIC: Grieving the Father
SCRIPTURE: He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Isaiah 53:3 (NLT)
Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 17 July 2022 | MESSAGE
A father warns his child time and again to stay away from all those bottles and containers underneath the sink. But then one day it happens. Dad walks into the kitchen and in one horrible moment, sees his little boy, pale and unconscious, on the floor.
Somehow the boy managed to pry the lid off that old bottle of insecticide and…
The paramedics arrive and, after a few anxious moments, revive the child. Yet in the coming days, the tragedy continues to unfold. Doctors report that the little boy will never be the same. He will be permanently impaired with an intellectual disability.
Tell me something…who do you think hurts the most?
The young son? Certainly he’s been hurt—terribly. But in a strange way, almost like a hidden blessing, he will never fully understand the consequences of his actions. He has no concept of what life could have been if he had not disobeyed.
How about the father? I imagine he would be the one who would really suffer. I kept telling him again and again—even after pushing the bottles to the rear of the cabinet. Why wouldn’t he listen?
That father will carry the pain of his son’s disobedience for the rest of his life. It is he who must bear the hurt of awareness—fully knowing the consequences of that bad decision.
Let’s apply this story to our relationship with God. Just who felt the deepest hurt back in the Garden of Eden? Adam and Eve? Yes, they must have suffered dreadfully as they began to live out the consequences of their disobedience. How could they begin to reckon with the fact that their sons and daughters—through the long ages—would never, could never, be the same.(Joni And Friends Daily Devotional)
Impaired by sin, our first parents were probably only dimly aware of the enormity and the consequences their tragic decision had unleashed on the world. Murder, pain, deceit, rape, warfare, abortion, nuclear war, child pornography, pollution, famine, disease, divorce, incest, sorrow, fear, cruelty, holocaust, injustice, greed….
No, they couldn’t have known. They didn’t begin to understand. And neither do we. Blinded by our fallen nature, we have only the vaguest notion of what consequences our disobedience and sinful choices are causing in our life and the lives of others.
But how about God the Father? He has complete understanding. He is totally aware. He can see not only what is and will be, but also what might have been. He knows the full impact of our permanent impairment by sin.
READ: John Hagee Daily Devotional 17 July 2022 || Matthew 24:4
And does he grieve? Does the God and Creator of the universe sorrow over man’s sin and the terrible effects he brings on himself? Scripture indicates that he does feel anguish—deeper than you and I could ever understand.
“The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.” – Genesis 6:5-7
“Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah and Zeboim? My heart is torn within me and my compassion overflows.” – Hosea 11:8, NLT
“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
…O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!’” – Luke 19:41-43, 13:34
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. – Ephesians 4:29-31
Our Father, much like the dad in our story, carries the pain of complete awareness. He knows as we will never know. And He grieves.
But listen—there is a piercing shaft of hope in these dark reflections. A miracle drug has been applied. Christ’s blood on the cross is antidote for the awful impairment of sin. Though we can never flee from the consequences of our sin, we can be restored. Its deadening effects can be reversed. In a sense, we can get back into the Garden.
Yes, it hurts to know that we have brought pain to the heart of God. it hurts to realize that we continue to grieve him when we turn from his counsel and go our own way. But Scripture tells us:
“if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses from all sin” – 1 John 1:7
We who have brought such grief to the heart of the Father can also bring joy and delight and companionship as we accept his cure and walk with his Son.
Thank you for reading Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 17 July 2022, Sunday
