August 3

Zephaniah 2:8-3:20; 2 Chronicles 35:20-27; 2 Kings 23:29-30; Jeremiah 47:1-48:47

We have a God who cries. We see this most clearly in Jesus who weeps at the grave of Lazarus and over the unrepentant city of Jerusalem. Yet God is seen to cry repeatedly in the Old Testament. In Jeremiah 48 we see God wailing over Moab, moaning over the people of Kir Hareseth, and weeping over others. This crying comes in the context of God's judgment. We may find ourselves elated when people 'get what they deserve,' but that is not God's mentality in this passage. Here, during God’s perfect judgment, there is sorrow. This flows out of God’s love for all people and his desire they come to experience the life which is available in him. He wants all people to come to repentance. He wants everyone to be in his family and for no one to experience an eternity apart from him. Therefore, when this does not happen, he cries.

We should seek to express this same mentality by doing all we can to share Christ with those who are far from him so they might know an eternity of joy with Christ. We should have an overwhelming love for all people that motivates us to share not only the gospel but our lives with others.

Father God, help my heart to break for those who are far from you. Help me to share your love with those you put before me today and know only in you does an eternity in paradise await. Amen. 

How close or far is your heart from God's heart towards the lost?

1 Comment


Joan - August 3rd, 2025 at 7:35am

Derek

nI so appreciate your explanation of these passages!