But God Knows Intentions of the Heart- Lent 30, 2021

God knows the difference between sins committed intentionally, flagrantly, audaciously, or maliciously and those that were just a broken world getting in the way of people with otherwise good intentions.

God offers grace in these situations of simple error. What types of situations, you ask? Ones such as a person having a heart attack while driving a car and unintentionally killing a pedestrian or a passenger in their car, or an unexpected electrical short causing a fire that ignites a neighborhood, etc. These are not planned or malicious in any way. Just a broken world. Tragic just the same, but not rebellion against God.

As we continue our look at living with peace of God and having peace with God even while living in the City of Man, we can be thankful that God made provisions in His Word to guide our response.

“However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate.” (Exodus 21:13)

Without the fuller picture, being able to know the hearts of others, God instructs us to “Judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.” (1 Corinthians 4:5). It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t judge words and actions against the Bible’s clear instructions, but it does mean we should leave room for God to be the One who judges people, who judges their hearts, and who gives a final judgment.

Thank You, Father, that You are utterly trustworthy to know the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. We thank You that provision has been made for error and sin that arose without intent. Preserve us from being puffed up as followers of Christ, arrogantly believing ourselves to be more holy. Help us to remember how You have put apostles and prophets on display as those “at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena.” Give us words when we are slandered, so we will not repeat blow for blow, but rather answer kindly. When we are mistreated and bullied and ostracized, help us to remember that You are coming soon, and You know our hearts. Remind us that “the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” May we know more of You, Lord Jesus, and see Your power at work in our lives. Amen. (Praying 1 Corinthians 4:5-20).

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations. We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.