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Fire from God 2
 11th February 2020
Peter Gray-Read
…to bind up the broken hearted
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound:
Does Yahweh Elohim understand about having a broken heart? God is Spirit how can He understand? Well perhaps verses such as Ezekiel 6:9 may cast some light:
And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols..
What an amazing confession for the Almighty God to use! I am broken…
We are more used to ‘I am the way the truth and the life..’ ‘I am the good shepherd…’ a God who is ‘large and in charge’ the omnipotent one. So… why is he broken? The heart of his beloved people – in this case Israel - has tuned from Him, they are looking elsewhere for something to hold their interest, their affection – something more fashionable perhaps… more current
The context of Ezekiel is one of God looking for relationship and devotion following Him who had rescued them and been a Father to them. But the nation had become full of violence, idolatry, greed and selfishness so much so that God had to remove his glorious presence from the temple. A Holy God could no longer tabernacle among them. Ezekiel 10 describes the ‘glory’ departing. What a tragedy. By revelation the prophet was shown scenes of abomination, of spiritual adultery which resulted in the shameful attitude towards God and each other
God allows national disaster to come upon Israel to help them see the error of their ways but they even tried to rebel against that measured chastisement – iniquity in the heart runs deep. That is why we need a new heart – nothing else works. It is the heart that leads the head: Psalm 119:97 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. We see here ‘love’ comes before meditation – using the mind. When we are passionate about something the mind gets on board
The importance of this ministry of binding up the broken hearted is seen clearly in Psalm 147:
The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names
Between these two great acts of God restoring Israel to the land – on the human level and doing a roll call of heaven on the divine level we have the amazing verse:
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds
Either this is saying the heart is such a masterpiece of physical and emotional power – it takes the creator to ‘restore my soul’. Or, it is saying ‘Your heart is of such importance to me - I prioritise your love’. After all Yahweh expects this of us: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might Deuteronomy 5:6.
Of course He could be saying both - in Revelation, He wipes away all tears from our eyes
I once asked the Father… Where were you when your beloved Son was on the cross?
If you want to see ‘love’, ask the question in faith and listen to the answer!
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