Groan

Daily Reading: Ezekiel 21

As for you, son of man, groan; with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan before their eyes. (Ezekiel 21.6)

Devotional Thought: Jesus looked out over Jerusalem and cried: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ... How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!" (Luke 13.34).  Later, "he wept over it, saying, 'Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!'" (Luke 19.41-42).

The Apostle Paul wrote, "My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!" (Galatians 4.19).  Concerning his Jewish brethren, Paul was so burdened, he said, "I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers" (Romans 9.3).

The Old Testament prophet Elisha wept before Hazael, commander of the Syrian army, saying, "I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel" (2 Kings 8.12).

It is not surprising then that God would give Ezekiel a heavy burden for his people, causing him to groan "with breaking heart and bitter grief" for the destruction coming upon them.

Do we groan for the lost...  

·       With breaking heart?  Jesus did not harbor anger or hatred toward his enemies.  Instead, he prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23.34).  Are you and I broken over the judgment of the lost, or are we tempted to think, "That's just what they deserve!"?

·       With bitter grief?  The kind of brokenness that prays for the lost must be felt in the depths of our souls.  Ask God to pour his love into your heart by the Holy Spirit.

·       Before their eyes?  Concerning our grief, we don't "show it," but if it's genuinely there, they certainly will “know it."

Prayer: Lord, forgive me for having a cold heart and for not weeping over the lost sheep of this world.  Fill my heart with your love for those who are lost. Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 33.8-15

8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!

9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.

10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.

11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.

12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

13 The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man;

14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,

15 he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.