“And when He (Jesus) drew near and saw the city(Jerusalem), He wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.’” Luke 19:41-42
How blind are we, His children, on any given day to what the Lord has for us? Why do we seek our own way so often and then seek to blame others…or God, for our confusion, our despair or our falling again into temptation? Why are we such a fickle people when we have been given so much from God? How long, will we be this way before we can experience the blessings that HE has already given…not fully…yet, but enough to know HE is with us… always?
Long before the Day that He will wipe away all our tears, He wept many of His own. The tears He shed coming into a broken and rebellious Jerusalem underscore the mercy and magnificence of these words from the Apostle Paul: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows His (own) love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:6-8). He wept over Jerusalem for they had been taught about Him and they still rejected Him. But having come to save, we see in Him the compassion that we should display in the world around us.
But, when I consider the Romans passage above I humbly and gladly acknowledge Paul was writing about me, in that Scripture. I am and was one of the powerless, ungodly sinners for whom He willingly gave His life—demonstrating God’s lavish love for the non-deserving. I wasn’t an impassioned seeker or a misguided God-fearer; I was a traitorous rebel when I received the gift of reconciliation, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Rom. 5:9-11). I now KNOW the things that make for peace. I have peace with God because God made peace with me first through Him. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”(Rom. 5:1) Is this reality this morning as well?
So as those who have been justified…reconcile…and are at peace with God, why are we still so often blinded by what God is doing around us each day? I guess the answer is in actually believing what He says of us and to us, His children. We put way too much stock in a world that is passing away and not enough in what He says and does. We are way to self-centered and prideful rather than self-sacrificial and service oriented. The word constantly reminds us in one form or another “obey and live” which requires us to submit to Him and what He says to do so. We have been justified so we can be obedient…with one goal in mind…to love Him and others with all that we are.
Do you hear his voice this morning, “‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!”? Turn to Him in repentance and prayer. For NOW the way is No longer hidden from our eyes!
God Bless y’all today.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
