Oct
28
2014
Hearing the Heart
Posted in Faith 4 Comments
Do you ever think about what a privilege it is to hear the heart of your child?
The heart, the thoughts, the dreams, and the fears that need a safe place.
A place of unconditional love, acceptance, support, and encouragement.
Often, a mother is that safe place.
No matter the age, there is a heart that needs to speak.
There is a heart that needs to be heard.
There is a heart that needs to hear itself speak.
A heart that needs words to somehow capture the depths of its feelings.
That is not an easy task.
Sometimes there are no words.
Sometimes there are too many words.
Sometimes the words are inadequate.
We should encourage our children to take their heart to the Lord.
Michael Card, author, Bible study teacher, and Christian music artist said it best.
Pound your fists on the chest of God; He can take it!
Lamenting, pounding on the chest of God, can actually be a form of worship.
How can venting your anger, frustration, and fears be a form of worship?
Look at the One you are lamenting TO.
You are bringing your hurt and emotion to the only One who truly cares and understands.
The One who made your heart; who knows it best, even when you cannot put it in words.
I am so grateful that God deals with each of us according to the way He made us.
No cookie-cutter response from Him.
He knows what we need before we even ask Him.
He knows those things that are and the things that will be most difficult for us.
He knows.
Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same on who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped His feet with her hair. When He heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus. Yet when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where he was two more days. (John 11:1-6)
Now that’s hard to understand.
Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus but waited two days before going to them.
Can you imagine the pounding?
Can you imagine the pleading?
Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up…On His arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him, but Mary stayed at home. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:11,17-21)
Jesus tells Martha that her brother will rise again.
She knows and believes that her brother will rise in the resurrection on the last day.
Jesus used this occasion of great pain to reveal Himself in a new way to Martha.
He simply asks her, Do you believe this? (John 11:26)
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. (John 11:25,26)
Martha answered Jesus’ question.
“Yes, Lord,” she told Him, “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” (John 11:27)
But there is another sister.
Mary, the one who is always at Jesus’ feet.
She said the same words her sister, Martha, said to Jesus.
“Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:32)
Jesus had deep compassion.
When he saw Mary weeping and the people around her weeping, He was deeply moved.
The Son of God was troubled in His Spirit at the death that sin brought into this world.
Jesus wept.
Jesus’ tears affirmed His great love for Lazarus.
Jesus’ tears affirmed His great love for Mary and Martha.
However Jesus responded differently to each woman.
He met their grief in the way they needed their grief to be met.
Martha needed Jesus’ Words.
She needed to be reassured of the Resurrection.
She needed Jesus to tell her who He is, to reveal His Divinity.
Martha needed words of affirmation.
Mary needed Jesus’ tears.
She needed to be reassured that He cared.
She needed Jesus to cry His tears with her tears.
Martha, needed to see the depth of Jesus’ feeling.
Jesus knew each woman.
He met them right at their need.
He responded perfectly to each.
Jesus spoke and Jesus wept and Jesus always loved.
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you you have heard Me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me. When He said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (John 11:40-44)
When we listen to our children’s hearts, we should think about how God listens to us.
God is the Perfect Listener.
God meets each of us at the point of our need.
Through Jesus, His Son, we meet God in His Word and in His tears.
God is still deeply moved.
Go ahead, pound on His chest.
He can take it.
God wants to hear the heart of His child.
This is the perfect reminder that God knows the deepest part of our hearts and meets us just where we need him to. Thank you Gina, for always pointing us back to Jesus.
Diane,
You are welcome, friend. I always need to point myself towards Jesus as well. I love to think of the Father’s delight when He hears the heart of His children.
Gina
Sometimes I think God gets tired of my repeated requests, especially about the salvation of some family members–this was a wonderful reminder that He WANTS to hear from us, often,
Sue
Sue,
He does. He really does.
If Jesus found the need to pray to His Father, then so should we.
Our relationship with God the Father deepens when we communicate with Him often.
He never tires of hearing our hearts.
Gina