It Grieves God
Grieving God – Part 1

Scripture Reading:  Isaiah 63:11-19

Key Verse: Isaiah 63:10

Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.

The Bible is very clear about the fact that God is love and nothing can stop the flow of His love toward us (Romans 8).  However, out of this great love can come grieving.  God grieves over His loved ones, just as we parents would grieve over one of our children who had gone astray.  As Christ followers, filled with God via the Holy Spirit, we are warned not to grieve the Spirit of God in us (Ephesians 4:30).

One of the ways that we can grieve God is in our rebellion.  The Old Testament people of God rebelled about the God that had delivered them from their enemies and blessed them in many ways.  Yet, in their blessings they turned from God to follow the stone pagan gods of other nations.  In our printed key verse for today’s devotional, we read how this grieved God’s Holy Spirit that was among them.

I heard a saying many years ago: “It’s hard to stand your blessings.”  In other words, when things are going well, it’s easy to stop praying as much and grow distant from God.  Our “flesh/sinful nature” is a compelling force.  Instead of being so joy-filled with the blessings we are experiencing, our tendency is to take them for granted and stray from the God who gave us those blessings.  This grieves God, as He watches us move farther and farther away from Him.  (Continued)

Father, thank you for your wonderful patience with me.  Forgive me when I have grieved you.  I will come back to the heart of praise and worship.  In Jesus’ name, amen.