Grieving the Holy Spirit: Crushing God's Heart

Grieving the Holy Spirit of God is something a true believer never wants to do. Instead we want to honor and please God. While reading the book of Ezekiel in the Bible, I stopped when I read God’s words in Ezekiel 6:9. “I was crushed by their adulterous heart.” These words took the idea of grieving the Holy Spirit to another level. 

I can understand the earthly reality of an adulterous heart crushing the heart of the one who loves them. However, the thought of God’s heart crushed by the adulterous heart of His people captivated my thoughts. Can God’s heart really be crushed? Can I have an adulterous heart in relation to God and how He sees my heart? What does it mean to crush God’s heart? What does this mean to me and my relationship with God? 

Crushed defined:

The most common use of the Hebrew word for crushed was not in relation to God but to man or objects. The word crushed or sabar in Hebrew means to break, to burst, to break in pieces, to break up, to break down, to smash, to shatter. That paints a strong picture of the deep wound of God’s heart or grieving the Holy Spirit when we, God’s people, have an adulterous heart. 

I began to search Scripture and found numerous passages that connected the dots of my understanding of God “crushed by their adulterous heart.” The bolded, underlined words connect to God’s crushed heart. 

Grieving The Holy Spirit And Crushing God’s heart Go Hand In Hand.  

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Genesis 6:5-6

Last week in my blog post, I wrote about how Noah’s Day Parallels Our Day and I talked about how this Genesis 6:5-6 passage shows us that mankind has had a knack for grieving God from the earliest days of our existence. 

These next few Old Testament passages let us know that God’s people never seemed to get a handle on their grieving the heart of God. 

Old Testament Grieving God’s Heart

How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert. Psalm 78:40

For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know my ways. Psalm 95:10

Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. Isaiah 1:14

You have bought Me no sweet cane with money, nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices; but you have burdened Me with Your sins, you have wearied Me with You iniquities. Isaiah 43:24

But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an enemy. Isaiah 63:10

My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, None at all exalt Him. How can I give you up Ephraim? How can I hand you over Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboim? My heart churns (literally means to turn over) within Me; My sympathy is stirred. Hosea 11:7-8

You have wearied the Lord with your words; yet you say, “In what way have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them,” or “Where is the God of justice?” Malachi 2:17

Honestly, it almost grieves me to read those passages. I feel the grief, and I understand the grief from the standpoint of being a parent of 3 adult daughters. Throughout my life as a parent, my children, young and adult, have grieved my heart at times.

Good Parents

Good parents love their children and want the best for their children. They make decisions, set guidelines, and teach their children out of that love and desire for their best. I believe that God instilled that in us as parents to reflect His perfect and pure parenting heart towards us as His children. 

That is why God said,

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, 

thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

However, the devil or our own stubborn nature gets in the way of fully grasping and trusting in God’s tender love for His people. In Matthew 23:37-39 we see God’s heart for His people on display as Jesus expresses His grief for His people. 

Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the One who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather Your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. See! Your house is left desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say,  “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Matthew 23:37-39

When we look at Jesus’s words in Mark 3:5, it is pretty clear how He saw the problem. 

And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. Mark 3:5

We so often want to blame the devil for our faults and sins, but Jesus pointed out the problem as a heart problem. Jesus was grieved by the hardness of their heart. That is not an external, “devil” problem. That is an internal problem which tells us we must look within to rid ourselves of things that grieve our God. 

Things To Consider 

When we look within, here are some things to consider according to the Bible verses we looked at today. We might have an adulterous heart that crushes God’s heart if we: 

·      Think evil and have evil intentions. Genesis 6:5-6

·      Provoke God. Psalm 78:40 

·      Go astray and do not know God’s ways. Psalm 95:10 

·      Celebrate and honor what does not honor God. Isaiah 1:4

·      Do not honor God with what we have. Isaiah 43:24

·      Rebel. Isaiah 63:10 

·      Are bent on backsliding and will not exalt God. Hosea 11:7-8

·      Say evil is good and then question His justice. Malachi 2:17

·      Reject His word He sends to us. Matthew 23:37-39

·      Have hard hearts without compassion for our fellow man’s suffering. Mark 3:5

New Testament words for you and I today. 

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,

by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Ephesians 4:30

What do I want you to do with all this? 

Take your heart and the list to God. Go through each one and ask God to reveal anything in your heart that grieves His heart. When He reveals it, repent. Ask for and accept His forgiveness, and move on trusting the perfect, pure love of Your God who wants the best for your life. 

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