PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 19:1-9
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard.” (Matthew 19:8)
Jesus explains that what Moses wrote was not God’s eternal will.
“But it was not this way from the beginning.” (Matthew 19:8)
In other words, not everything in the bible is God’s eternal will!!!
Moses’s Law was written with sinners in mind, to accommodate their hardened hearts.
This makes me VERY cautious when I interpret the bible… is this God’s eternal will?
I fear that we focus too much on the words, and yet ignore Jesus (John 5:39).
Jesus reveals God’s will “from the beginning”; scripture reveals Jesus.
God inspired Moses to permit something that was not God’s will.
I suspect that there are MANY things God permits, but does not like.
This itself reveals God’s grace, and shows us how God relates to us as sinners.
Through Jesus, God is still gracious with us because our hearts are still hard.
Jesus also knows our hearts, whether we’re motivated by love or self.
He can tell whether we’re just playing with words, or sincerely seeking God.
If we are seeking God and Jesus, we can be assured of grace… from beginning to end!
PRAYER
Lord, help me to know your heart, and not just the words. Help me to reflect your grace from the beginning, and not just my own hardened heart.
“Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.” Sin permeates everything and it affects our relationships with each other. Selfishness sets in, which I think is another way of saying hard hearted. We care too much about me and less of you. In my relationship to my wife and also to my children I must be kind hearted – fully giving and not looking out for my own gain. If we do that in our relationships we do and think the best for each other then there is no need for divorce. So it is within our fellowship too – we need to be kind and warm hearted to each other even when we disagree.
Hard hearted. All too often it is not the Lord’s way but my selfish way. I need to let the Lord have His way since He is the Potter and I am the clay. I need to live with God’s way first. I need to ask always what would the Lord want me to do. In all things I need to prayerfully live with my Master and Friend. I am always in His presence and need to talk with my Father and live for Him. I need to live the JOY principal always – Jesus is first.
Have thine own way, Lord!
Have thine own way!
Thou art the potter,
I am the clay.
Mold me and make me
after thy will,
while I am waiting,
yielded and still.