The Father Weeps

"The king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes." 2nd Kings 17:6 The Lord takes no delight in bringing judgment upon his people. Our God is a God of love and he yearns to shower his love on us. It grieves the heart of God when his people rebel against him, and he waits patiently like a yearning father giving them time to repent. God sent prophets to speak to Israel, not only warning, but pleading with them not to rebel against him, not to bring judgment upon themselves. The world sees God as someone just waiting to strike evildoers, but the truth is that it is not God but rather it is rebellion that brings judgment upon an individual or a nation. People bring it upon themselves. God will withhold judgment for as long as possible, but self-willed defiance inevitably leads to the consequences. It HAS to. In this case, Israel was overthrown and the people of the northern kingdom were carried off captive to judgment in Assyria. They lost their land, they lost their freedom, but most importantly they lost their God. And it grieved the heart of God. They did it to themselves. And the Father wept. vs 13-14: "Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of his prophets, every seer, saying, 'Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.' Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks…" They refused to hear. They stiffened their necks in defiance. And finally after many, many prophets had pleaded with them, they were forsaken, lost their homeland, and were carried off to terrible judgment. And so it is today. We're in "the last days" and exactly what was prophesied for this generation is what we see with our eyes. God has raised up many men of God to plead with the people. He's given plenty of time to repent. How he has pleaded with this generation! But the people reject him, they reject anything that has anything to do with him or his Word, they ban him and his Word from public places, and they demand their "rights" to sin grievously against him. Not only that, but they persecute those who refuse to take part in their sin. How do they not realize that they're on a toboggan slide into judgment? It's long been too late to plead with the world, and so now all we can do is reach out and hope to persuade individuals, anyone anywhere who will listen and turn in repentance. The message of God is that he loves his creation, he loves each one individually, and he's holding out as long as possible waiting for them to repent. There will be the ones and twos who will hear, and it is for those that he is waiting. But the door is about ready to close, and so we plead with this generation, "It's not worth it! Defiance and rebellion are simply not worth it." It will never be blessed, and without the blessing of God how can one think to find happiness? On the other hand, repentance leads to life, and that more abundantly! (John 10:10) The love of God is available for anyone, anywhere, no matter how sinful they've been or how messed up their lives are. There is forgiveness in the Lord, and in him they will find mercy. But more importantly, when one surrenders his life to him, God will be WITH him from that moment on and for the rest of his life. And truly, TRULY, the Lord knows how to bring a person to his/her highest potential, and to satisfy the desires of the heart of anyone who loves him. This ...is worth it! And it is worth it far beyond anything one can imagine. The Father weeps over the sinner. Come to him. Come now!