Our Violent Hearts

February 23, 2023

Lent 2023

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Is this true? Would God hide His face from me, stop listening to my prayer, and withhold His saving power, all because of my sins? I thought God loved me unconditionally? Didn’t the worship leader say “God is good, all the time?”

The truth is that for God to be good and love us unconditionally, He sometimes has to give us harsh medicine (Hebrews 12:6). It’s the spiritual equivalent of chemotherapy, or sending an addict through detox. And because we so often fail to recognize the grip sin has on us, God gives us passages like today’s reading to expose this uncomfortable truth.

Isaiah 59 gives emphasis to our sinful violence (vss. 3, 6-8). God consistently judges our violence. Violence triggered the flood, caused the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, disqualified David from building the temple, and as Isaiah recalls, contributed to the fall of Judah and the Babylonian exile. And then Jesus comes along and teaches that our angry thoughts as serious a sin as our violent actions (Matthew 5:21-22). That’s sobering: Even my violent thoughts are a barrier to God hearing my prayer!

During grad school I worked for a church on Chicago’s South Side. One afternoon, while waiting for the bus to go home, I was mugged by three men. Fortunately, I only got a broken nose and a couple black eyes out of the affair. But I also got acquainted with the violence in my own heart. In my private thoughts I not only wanted those men punished, but hurt, badly. It was years before I could desire God’s salvation for them. Pastor Tim Keller points out that violence is present in every human heart, and given the right situation, all of us have the potential for violent actions. Even me.

But Isaiah 59:1 proclaims that God is able to save us from our violent hearts. Throughout Lent we remember how God did this. On the Cross Jesus took the full weight of human violence, and returned mercy. When we look to Him, and realize how much we’ve been loved, our hearts begin to change. We find the courage to confess all our inequities, and open our hearts to a fresh in-pouring of the Holy Spirit. That is the one power that can fill us with peace, make us peaceful, and send us out as peacemakers.

For Reflection: