Bible Verse: “He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the wasteland! Again and again, they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember his power— the day he redeemed them from the oppressor.” (Psalm 78:39-42 NIV)
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 63:8-14
This week, we have looked at different ways that men can grieve. Today, we will explore how we can cause God to grieve over us.
We grieve the Holy Spirit when we willfully disobey His guidance. In other words, we grieve Him when we reject His promptings or go against the directions given in the Scriptures. Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice” (Ephesians 4:30-31).
Since the fall of Adam and Eve, God has been grieving over the destruction of His “very good” Creation as a result of our sins (Genesis 3). A few chapters later, God expresses regret for creating man and plans to wipe nearly all life from the earth (Genesis 6:5-8). Furthermore, God grieved over Israel’s rebellion in the wilderness (Psalm 78:39-42), which are all examples of God’s grief over sin and mankind.
The critical question is, how can we avoid grieving God?
The best answer is to obey God.
The first step to obeying God is having faith in Him. Without faith, we cannot please Him (Hebrews 11:6). Sin often stems from a lack of trust and selfishly seeking our own benefit. We must believe in God and actively pursue Him in even the most basic senses.
The primary way to connect with God is through prayer and reading His Word. We desire to follow His guidance when we talk to Him and study Scripture. The vision is to do all this with a sincere heart.
In summary, we should remain humble and acknowledge that God is Almighty and that we are His cherished children. All He requires from us is that we embrace His incredible grace and reciprocate with a sincere heart of obedience. When we do this, we will not grieve Him.
Prayer: Our heavenly Father, we don’t want to grieve You. Please give us the wisdom to choose wisely and never stop seeking You. Amen.
Reflection: Is there something in your life that might be grieving the Holy Spirit? What can you do to move in a better direction?
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