God loves the broken hearted

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.  --Psalm 51:17

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  --Psalm 34:18

Our small group Bible study this week focused on preparing our hearts for God, in the sense of having tender hearts, or being tender-hearted, so that God can bless us.  Ephesians 4:32 says, "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."

One wag in our group weighed in with this nugget:  "There are three ways to tenderize meat:  you can apply trauma (i.e. beat the hell out of it); you can slow cook it (e.g. apply low heat for an extended period of time); or you can marinate it (in a flavorful marinade, usually accompanied by a chemical tenderizer).  As for me," he said, "I'd rather soak in the presence of God than to either go through trauma (as some do), or to go through an extended period of heat (i.e. refinement)."

There followed a discussion of  differing experiences:  those who have gone through tremendous trauma but have come through at the end with a greater love and trust for God; those who have endured a time of trial, where the heat has been turned up but has not overwhelmed, and in the end there is a greater appreciation for God's blessing and provision.  Very few had examples of just marinating in God's presence and praise for an extended period of time.

One rabbit trail that was followed was that some meat is fatty, and the gristle will always be tough, no matter how long it is pounded, cooked, or soaked.  Some people just have a heart of stone, so that if they experience a trial such as the loss of a loved one they remain hard and unpliable.  The conclusion we drew is that some people can't change who they are--complainers are gonna complain, stiff-necked people are gonna stiffen their necks, and sinners are gonna sin.

In the midst of this discussion, we read a verse that really struck me.  All of the promises of hope are found in this one verse:

Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you. --Hosea 10:12

On one level, this is a great way to live.  As the Apostle Paul said, "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." (Colossians 3:17).  When you sow, sow to righteousness; when you reap, reap to mercy and kindness.  At all times seek the Lord until He comes to reward you.

On a deeper level, though, it is worth ruminating on.  Come, fellow cows, let's chew the cud awhile.  Twice in this verse the writer mentions righteousness.  When the Bible mentions righteousness, it always refers to God.  Our righteousness is as filthy rags (cf. Isaiah 64:6).  Literally this compares our good works to a used sanitary napkin, a bloody thing a woman discards with disgust during her menstrual cycle.  There is no good use for it.  Our only true righteousness is that imputed to us through Christ.

A modern Christian song has this chorus:

Lord, I need You, oh, I need You Every hour I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You

As in "(You are) my one defense, (You are) my righteousness.." (Not to be confused with the incorrect interpretation, "My only defense (is) my (own) righteousness...")

An old hymn puts it this way:

When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in Him be found; Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne.

The next part of our verse implores us to "break up your fallow ground."  We must work to keep from getting hardened, because when God rains down His blessings, hardened folks cannot by nature soak it in.  The blessings of God become runoff, increasing the blessings of another and not the hardened heart.  I think this is why, in Jesus' parable about the talents, He concluded "For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will  have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away." (Matthew 25:29).

I think of the parable of the sower in Luke 8:4-8.

The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot, and the birds of the air ate it up.  Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.  Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out.  Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.

Keeping in mind our text in Hosea 10:12, the fallow ground falls into three categories: the hardened soil, as in a path, tramped down with heavy traffic; the rocky ground, dry, with no moisture; and the thorny ground, already overgrown with weeds and thorn bushes.  Hosea calls us to break up the fallow ground, to prepare it to receive the blessings of God.  For the first kind of ground, boundaries must be set, so that people will stop walking over it and compressing the soil; then it must be broken up by force.  For the second kind of ground, the hard parts (the stones) must be removed, and the soil irrigated; we cannot abide hardness in our own hearts.  The third kind of ground we know is fertile, because it is overgrown with weeds and thorn bushes; it only needs to be cleaned out, the dead and worthless and even harmful plants uprooted and thrown into the fire, so that there is room for the good seed.

If you are like the first kind of soil, then the trauma of a plow is what you need.  The plow is not pleasant when applied, but leaves the soil upturned and ready for the blessing of God.  Accept the trauma God brings into your life with gladness, because joy comes in the morning.

If you are like the second kind of soil, then a long, slow process of removing stones from your life is what you need.  The work is hard, and it will not be completed in a day, but when it is finished the soil will be aerated and ready to receive the rain.  Do not abandon the heat, for the sweat of your brow will reap rewards.

If you are like the third kind of soil, then a chemical weed-killer may be applied, along with a fertilizer, making you ready for a long soak.  Give up the harmful overgrowth, and prepare for the good seed, so that you may one day enjoy the harvest.

The last part of our verse in Hosea brings the payoff: "For it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on  you."  In another place, the Scripture reads, "Behold, now the is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2b).  It is time to seek the Lord.

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.  Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will  have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. --Isaiah 55:2-3

Toward what end?  Until what season should we we seek the Lord?  "...Until He comes to rain righteousness on you."  I looked up the word "rain" used in this verse in the Strong's concordance.  This is the only place where the Hebrew word is translated "rain".  The Hebrew word is apparently a homonym, a single word that has two different meanings depending upon the context.  One use of the word is translated teach, teacher, instruct, or show.  In one sense it is to pour out knowledge and wisdom to someone who is prepared to learn.  The other main use of the word is translated to shoot (as in arrows) or to throw, archers, shooters, to cast.  In this sense, an army or an enemy can rain down death and destruction on a particular target.

Friends, when Christ comes again, He will pour out His Righteousness as rain upon all of us.  Depending upon the condition of our hearts, he will either pour out on us the knowledge of Himself, which we will receive with joy; or He will rain down destruction and death to those who are not prepared for His coming.  To the former, the Righteousness of God will be a source of wisdom, the Answer to the question our hearts have been asking throughout our lives.  To the latter, the Righteousness of God will be a weapon of war used to pierce the hearts of stone and carry them to hell.  Do not harden your hearts toward God.  Give grace a chance.