Heart Matters

“I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.  Psalm 119:75

Every now and then I muster up the courage to catch a couple of episodes of the series Intervention.  I have to make sure my heart is prepared for the brokenness I’m about to witness, the sadness I’ll have to partake of, just because of my decision to watch the show. At times it seems almost sinful to watch a show which reveals a person at what seems to be their utmost lowest level ever.  It’s hard to watch a young lady so intoxicated she’s falling down in the street as she tries her hardest to make it to the store to buy even more alcohol.  It’s heart wrenching to see a person having so much potential yet spending day in and day out completely checked out of life and suffering every moment of their sobriety.  It’s a tough show to watch.  Yet something about it draws me to it.  I’ve watched it enough to know there are always two main points regarding the person’s life that’ll be revealed: the painful event(s) which led to their brokenness in the first place, causing something inside of them to seem to have a subconscious desire to die; and the result of the intervention when their loved ones all pull together for the common goal of getting him/her the help they so desperately need. The reason I’m willing to go through the discomfort of seeing another person’s pain is because there’s a chance I’ll also get to witness their healing.

Intervention is a show which reveals how extremely broken we can become when we are abused, mistreated, and greatly hurt.  It shows how for some, when that brokenness is left unresolved and hasn’t properly been dealt with, it can lead to a road of inconceivable addiction and unbelievable dysfunction.  When the sinful actions of others break and crush us we can tire of our very lives and many on the show, in their effort to escape their pain and sorrow, choose instead to live in a sort of catatonic state, closely resembling the walking dead.  Occasionally, I watch Intervention because it’s a show that offers hope and a chance for a new life.  However, in order for that to happen truth has to show up, and be dealt with, and get accepted.  The person has to tire of their same old ways and habits and realize that they can’t do it on their own. Only then can the person make  the choice to accept what’s been prepared for them, to save them out of their addiction, heal their brokenness, and break the chains of bondage.

Okay so this blog isn’t a promo for the show Intervention.  However, whenever I watch it I can’t help but think about how broken we all are, or have been, in some shape or form. Like the addicts on the show, for some of us, we too weren’t able to be rescued until we hit rock bottom.  For some of us it’s not until we are completely down that we’re able to look up and cry out for help to GOD. For many of us, this is how we were led to our salvation. Our brokenness caused us to accept the truth-that we are broken, separated from God because of our sin, and the fact that only Jesus made a way to save us and fill our void. When we made the choice to believe in the resurrected Christ and HIS finished work on the cross, our wounds were healed, our chains were loosed, and we were set free to freely live for HIM. Our brokenness ultimately led to our wholeness in Christ and we now know that only JESUS could have ever filled our voids.  But that’s not the end of it…..no, as we begin our new life in Christ-it is only the beginning!

As we begin our journey with the LORD, there’s another type of brokenness and affliction that can occur.  This isn’t the result of man’s indulgence in sin.  No instead it’s the result of God’s determination to sanctify His own.  Now I know there are many Christians who don’t like it when Christian writers and speakers use such “Christian words” (also known as Christianese which I happen to find offensive) as “sanctification.”  Well I’m not one of them. I believe that everyone should understand any and all terms/concepts which are presented in the Word of God.  So I’m going to use them with the hopes that it will lead some who are not familiar with such terms, to go to The Bible and look further into it.  So there! However, I also do not mind giving you a brief explanation myself.  Sanctification is the process God begins in the life of every new believer to refine us and make us look more and more like Christ.  It is what we need in order to move forward in holiness and in our walk with Christ.  It is what equips us to accomplish all the wonderful purposes God has for us.  Because of HIS sanctifying me thus far, I have been able to love more unconditionally, to exercise more patience, to have compassion instead of complaint, to serve instead of being self-seeking. So yes I will use the term “sanctification” because if you’re a believer you need to know about it and understand it.  And if your’re not a believer, you need to know about it and seek to understand it…..it just might lead to your salvation!

Correction, affliction and brokenness all can be a part of the LORD”s sanctification process for us.  And believe it or not when it comes from HIM, correction, affliction, and brokenness all equal LOVE.  Because of His great love for us, the LORD sometimes breaks us in order to move us forward.  Unfortunately sometimes we can get stuck in our walk and backslide as we allow sin to creep in and grab a hold of us.  HE uses it to heal  us during the times we fall down along the journey as we live in a fallen world in which the sinful actions of others can still wreak some havoc in our lives.

Once we belong to the Lord we can count on Him coming to get us when we stray!  Once we are found in Christ we can know without a doubt that He’s serious about us accomplishing the purposes He has for us. The Lord is not weak and He is not willing to leave us to ourselves and so He will break us if He has to.  That’s right, I said that the LORD will afflict His children.  He will!  Just go back and read the Scripture at the beginning.  He will afflict us because He is good, because He is faithful, because He ain’t no punk and if it takes tough love, He has you!  God knows that when it calls for it, Tough Love is Real Love. However, unlike all the family members who struggle with being an enabler to their loved ones on Intervention, the Lord is incapable of enabling us to sin!

I’m so thankful for all the times the Lord graciously intervene and abruptly interrupted my strolls onto destructive paths.  Like the Psalmist, I’m grateful that HE knows how and when to shake some sense into me.  As I look back and reflect on the most painful moments of my life as a believer in Christ Jesus,  I can also see all the good He worked out towards me in and through that same pain.  If you’re a follower of Christ and you’re going through a painful or difficult time, trust me when I say you can trust Him through it.

You see, at times His divine intervention is needed to redirect us.  And yes, it’s needed even when we’ve already been saved for many years.  In fact, I personally can’t see how our sanctification (growth and maturity in Christ) can happen without it.  The fact is that without fire, there is no refining and at times, without correction, there is no necessary changing of courses. The Lord chastens those He loves, BECAUSE He loves us.  We have a sin issue or shall I say, we have an issue with sin-it’s always there for the taking and that doesn’t go away because we are now Christians.  As believers we still have to choose to say no to sin. Since we are still attached to this body of sin, our flesh, our old man, there will exist a certain level of attraction to certain sins.  At times, we may struggle not to put self first, not to look out for our own best interest, not to become obsessed with pleasing self. As long as we are alive we must guard our hearts against sin.  We have to understand that salvation doesn’t make us invincible to sin or incapable of sinning.  Salvation makes us unaccountable for the wages of sin-which is death-but not the consequences of sin.  The moment we were saved, the Holy Spirit of God came to indwell us and HE equips us to say “no” to sin.  The more we walk in the Spirit, the more we will be repulsed by and reject sin. But some of our sinful behaviors are deeply rooted and unidentifiable, and so our Lord has to graciously draw them out and make them known to us.  I’m just saying, sometimes the best way for Him to get our attention and reveal the truth to us is through the divine intervention of afflicting us.

It’s important to not only understand this concept of God’s Divine Intervention, but to also receive and embrace it.  Often times the most difficult things that the Lord allows in our lives-the things which hurt and make us miserable, the things which break us, are the very things needed to propel us beyond ourselves and out of whatever it is that’s holding us back spiritually.  Sometimes it is those very things which can open our eyes to see a sin area of our lives which we were completely oblivious to and in great denial of. God’s divine intervention has the power to release us from strongholds and set us free from bondage. God’s divine intervention has the power to develop and strengthen us for what He will later call us to.  When He intervene’s, although it may catch you off guard, know that what He’s allowing in your life, is in fact right on time and for your own good!

It’s also important to note that God’s Divine Intervention is between the person whose life He’s intervening in and God.  No one can really say when our affliction is indeed in fact a result of our sin because that’s not always the case.  Sometimes we are broken by the sinful choices of others.  But I believe when we are keeping short accounts with the Lord by examining our hearts and repenting of our sins, we can know God can and will use that too.  HE will use the brokenness to develop and strengthen our character.

God’s Divine Intervention is usually either about about getting our attention and turning us back to Him or grabbing our hand and moving us forward in Him.  Sometimes it’s to get us straight in an area where we need it most and other times it’s simply to streamline us more for HIM. Sometimes He lovingly corrects us to call us back into intimate fellowship with Him and sometimes He leads us as we walk with Him on some treacherous terrain.  Such affliction teaches us how to trust Him more. The chastening is designed by Him, specifically for us and where we are at the time.  As such, it can look very different in each of our individual lives.  No one knows us like the LORD!

So how do we know what the Lord is seeking to accomplish in our lives when He intervenes and begins to allow affliction in our lives?  Well it’s simple!  If we know we’ve strayed, we return and draw close to Him.  If we’re sinning, we confess the sin to Him, repent, and turn away from the sin.  If we don’t believe it’s sin, we still pray and ask Him to examine our hearts and reveal any unknown sin so we can ask for forgiveness.  If we do all this and still can’t see why the Lord would allow something so difficult in our lives, we lay it down at the foot of the altar before Him as we purpose to trust Him through it.  This means we accept it from His hand even if we don’t understand it, remembering that He is a perfectly good and loving God and  He is faithful and trustworthy.  We lay the burden of not knowing or not understanding down but then we continue to walk closely with the Lord. It means we apply Romans 8:28 to our lives: “For we know that all things work together for good for those who know the LORD and are the called according to His purposes.”

Don’t miss it and don’t miss out!  If you purpose in your heart to accomplish His purposes you can know as you walk with Him that Jesus is working it all out, together for your good!  Amazing isn’t it?!  We can actually “be still” in the toughest times of our lives and “know that HE is GOD.” (Psalm 46:10).

The results?  We get set free, we grow, and we can actually have the opportunity to glorify HIM. We move one step closer toward the land He has promised (set aside) just for us-our purpose in HIM.  If we walk through God’s correction and chastening with the right heart, not only will we survive it, we will thrive as a result of it.  Check this out:  “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  1 Peter 1:6-9

HEART TO HEART:  GOD USES DIVINE INTERVENTION TO GROOM YOU FOR HIS DIVINE PURPOSES.