A Stony Heart- A Story of Forgiveness

A Stony Heart- A Story of Forgiveness

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Ezekiel 36: 26-28

I have recently been enamored with the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations. The prophet, Jeremiah, is known as the weeping prophet, and rightfully so. He saw so much destruction in his days. He watched as the children of Israel ignored his every word and every warning from God and were laid desolate for it. He witnessed some of the darkest, hardest days a people, a nation, God’s chosen ones, would ever face. Famine, slavery, death. Women were even eating their own children to stay alive.(Lamentations 4:10)

These were not heathen, these were God’s own people doing this. They had fallen so far, rejected so much, that even in their punishment and desolation they refused to turn to God. The book of Lamentations is completely dedicated to the grief and sorrow and lamenting Jeremiah had towards God’s people and a begging of them to return to their God.

And yet, in all that grief and sorrow, experiencing a horrific leadership, imprisonment, starvation, wounded, alone, left to die, helpless to fix anything, the books he wrote sparkle with scattered diamonds of hope! Most of the verses I cling too are found in Jeremiah. This entire blog was inspired from the famous verses in Jeremiah about the potter!

“And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hands of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it.” Jeremiah 18:4

See if you recognize these other verses from Jeremiah….

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Jeremiah 29:11

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Jeremiah 33:3

“Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.” Jeremiah 1:8

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13.

“The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3

“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33

“Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.” Jeremiah 15:16

“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.” Jeremiah 17:7

How about in the book of Lamentations?

This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:21-23

The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. Lamentations 3:25-26

For the LORD will not cast off for ever: Lamentations 3:31

The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. Lamentations 3:24

Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21

But, Rose, what does this mean to me today?

Enter Ezekial.

By the time God is speaking through Ezekial about restoring His people, the words of the Lord are so very specific. It is easy to breeze past the verses in between the promises. Who wants to read all the negative. We want the good stuff…but listen to God’s words….

“But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.” Ezekial 36: 21-32

God did it for HIS NAME SAKE! Before those who did not know Him. When His own children forsook Him, made a joke of the goodness He gave them. When they went the way of the world and rejected Him, He saw, in His punishment of them, the need to show those who did not know Him, His mercy and His grace. He used His people to make this picture clear.

And now, we read in the Bible, these narratives, preserved forever, of His mercy and grace given, not because they deserved it, but because of His Name Sake, lest those who do not believe yet, assume He is only a God of wrath, to be feared.

Okay, goosebump time….

The very next chapter….

The Dry Bones come Alive!

God uses this metaphor, this illustration, this actual miraculous event, to show Ezekiel, and now us today, what He means. Those dry bones had no flesh, no breath, no power of themselves to be whole again. BUT GOD!!!!

He made them alive again!

How does this translate to my life? I was a dry bone. I was desolate. I was a Christian who walked away from grace. I was a Child of God who got distracted by the pleasures of sin for a season and paid a great price for my wandering. Yes, I was saved by grace and rescued as the one sheep of the 99 that the good shepherd came to find; but, in my flesh, I became a prodigal after. But for HIS NAME SAKE, I was brought back to life.

Now, I have a story to tell. This is why I struggle. This is why I feel so unworthy of explaining such redemption. Because God, in his mercy and His grace, forgave me when I dismissed Him from my life as a runaway. But, I was given another chance. And another. And another.

Now, my stony heart has been made flesh. The Spirit dwelling in me is at work. It is not enough to simply tell you of the grace of God. It is not enough to tell you that I am just a sinner saved by grace. It is not enough to simply tell you that God keeps His promises. It is not enough to tell you that He takes back the prodigals. It is not enough to simply tell you of all the wonderful promises and gifts He bestows on His children.

Because God is a jealous God. God is a righteous and holy God. God is God. He is worthy of worship and praise and humility before His Almighty Hand. He is a Father. He is a guide. He is Shepherd. He is faithful friend. But, if we forget that He is God, we will see his promises and His grace as elements of our lives that should just simply coexist and He does not work like that.

Our hearts are stony. We are hardened naturally towards His goodness. We have our minds set on our own desires and we are not moldable. We are like hardened clay, dry bones, stony hearts, who desire things that make us feel good and make us feel worthy and accepted. We long for others to come along side and stroke our pride and agree with our sins and make us feel good and loved. But, we reject anything that makes us feel uncomfortable.

I know this, because this is me. This is my flesh. Even Paul said, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” Romans 7:18

We live in an age of grace. We do not live in the Old Testament. This is correct. Jesus already came, He already died, He already arose, He already gave us His Holy Spirit. But, let us be careful of grace that we do not use it as an occasion to sin.

I do not honestly know why God put this on my heart so strongly today. I have been wrestling with it and came so very close to deleting this post all together. I want this blog to be encouraging and uplifting, but in the world we live in, the chaos and the turmoil and the pain, God keeps putting these words in my heart. It is not enough to live in the grace and relish the promises. We must realize that God is also sovereign and while He is long-suffering to us (2 Peter 3:9) He will not keep His silence forever. If we are truly His children, He will chasten us, because he loves us. (Hebrews 12:6-11)

So, here is the promise.

IF we are His children, and IF we chose to go astray, He will chasten us back to Him. But, this is a good thing.

Oh my stars! What? Chastening as a good thing?

Yes! Because it is how we know we belong to Him. Trust me. The chastening of a son is so much healthier and kinder and more life-giving than that punishment we would endure at the hands of a God we do not belong to. I know, because I lived it. There is no more gracious, loving Father, than our Heavenly Father. There is no more merciful, tender-hearted, long-suffering, gentleness, than that of a good shepherd, placing that wandering lamb upon his shoulders, a father seeing his son afar off, and offering full acceptance and love and forgiveness to us.

Looking back on my life, I would love nothing more than to tell you about how I followed after God with my whole heart and now, decades later am still following after God. Instead, my story is riddled with years wasted, this is where my testimony begins, but, it doesn’t end there. Those years wasted, while scars I bear, are now stories to tell. Stories that bring me no glory in sharing, but give HIM ALL THE GLORY! Because for HIS NAME SAKE He breathed into these dry bones, life, and with every last breath I have, I pray I use it all to share with you the story of His forgiveness and beyond!