It Must Have Hurt God's Heart

I've been reading in the Old Testament for the last few months.  If you know me at all you know that I absolutely love the Old Testament.  I love how present and real and tangible God's presence was.  I would love to have lived during the Exodus when there was the Cloud by day and the Fire by night.  To be able to live and visibly see a physical presence of God must have been so incredible!

This go round of reading the Old Testament something new has stood out to me.  Most recently I've been reading in 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings.  These books lay out the stories of the kings of Israel and Judah.  So far (as in up to the current chapter I am in) only two kings have fully followed God's commands and been faithful to Him.  And one of those was David who still had some pretty large mess ups.

These others though all seem to play out the same.  God puts them on the throne.  God makes a covenant with them saying that if they will whole heartedly follow Him that He will keep them and their people forever.  The kings for one reason or another get completely off track.  God has to come back in and take care of the situation.  And the search continues for a king and people who will whole-heartedly serve God.

As I was reading through more accounts of this exact scenario last night it just made me so sad for God.  How heartbreaking that must have been.  It seems that since creation all God has wanted is to be in relationship with His people and time and time again He gets let down.  Adam & Eve.  The whole of mankind before the flood.  Aaron and the Israelites with the golden calf.  Saul.  Solomon.  The list goes on and on.  The list of times that God reached out to His people and was rejected.  I can only imagine the heartbreak of going through this process over and over again.  It must have hurt God's heart.

As I read last night it almost made me tear up.  Thinking of all the times that our glorious God has been so blatantly rejected and betrayed.  Our loving Father simply looking for a people and generation that would follow after, love, and serve Him.  And yet the disappointment and heartbreak that must ensue repeatedly.

It made me stop and think for a moment, how am I treating the heart of God.  Am I doing things that are causing heartbreak as well?  And if so, how do I fix that immediately?  I know I'm still human and will make mistakes, but I also can strive to make as few as possible.  I long to bring joy to God's heart and my desire is to never bring heartache if at all possible.