Genesis 34:1 says – Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. He raped her.
Dinah is the tenth child of Jacob, the only girl that we see that was born to him at this point. She has nine older brothers who are going to come to play in this story. Notice what it says about her. It says – She went out to see the women of the land. These are the pagans. These are outside of the faith community. She went out there. We don’t know why. She went out there. We don’t know whether she’s going to the mall or going to a party. Those are two different kinds of going out into the world. We don’t know exactly what she’s doing. But Moses makes a note of that fact to draw attention to the story to know what’s going on.
I would suggest and I want to warn young people today that there are times when you think you’re going out just to have fun or just to enjoy yourself, but there are dangers there that you are not aware of. When you say to your mom or dad, “Hey, I want go to this party on Friday night,” and your mom says, “Well are the parents going to be home?” “No. Their parents are on vacation. That’s why they’re having the party then because they want to be able to use the whole house and not bother the parents.” And Mom says, “Oh ho ho. I don’t think so!” Why? Because Mom has some experience in life. Mom knows what kinds of bad things can happen in those situations. Or a young person starts hanging around with someone that may not be the best and their parents’ red flags are coming up about the person they’re hanging around with and shares a warning with them. I just want to encourage you young people. You’ve got to listen to people of experience who have been in these places before you because there are challenges out here in life. Not just for young women, but for young men as well.
In fact I want to go a step further, if you would bear with me, because I want to talk to you young people (and older people too) and I just want to share a concern that you need to be aware of. I want to talk to you about the dangers of the power of male sexuality. Let’s just be honest here. Let’s talk about this for a moment.. This is not just for young ladies, but it’s also for young men and older people. The dangers of the power of male sexuality. You see God has created men with this desire to lead, this ability to take on challenges, to determine objectives to overcome obstacles, to conquer. That’s what men do. They go out and they solve the problems of the world. When God is working in a person’s life good things can happen and that is a great ability that they have. They also have passions that are inside, sexual desires that take place. Those are also good, designed by God. But when you take the desire to lead and overcome obstacles and face challenges and conquer and put that together with unbridled sexual desires, then you can get into a pretty bad place. Bad things can take place. You’ve got to understand that. Young people, if you’re going into a situation, a young woman, you’ve got to be aware of the dangers of the power of male sexuality. It takes a very spiritual man to be able to manage his own sexuality in our world today. It’s challenging.
Now God designed these two things in a very powerful way because in a marriage relationship when there's conflict in a marriage, then the husband is saying, “Wow, I want to get rid of this conflict so I can enjoy my wife.” So he’s motivated with his manly qualities of leadership and conquering and overcoming obstacles and meeting challenges. So he wants to do that so he can enjoy the relationship. It’s a God-given beautiful thing within marriage. But if a heart is selfish, not attuned with the Lord, then terrible things can happen. That’s what happens in this very difficult and sad story here with Dinah.
The fault is all on this guy Shechem. He’s the guy who’s perpetrating this rape and it’s just terrible what’s happening. You’re going to see that developed more in the passage. Just terrible what he does. Sexual abuse, sexual violence. It’s not just a violation of the body. I know in a group like this some of you have experienced this and you know all too well what I’m talking about. Sex is not just a biological experience, it’s a spiritual experience. So when a violation takes place like that, it goes deep into the heart of a person and hurts them and damages them in ways that are so sad and so hard to address. The process out of that can only take place really through the grace of God in a person’s life to overcome that terrible hurt that they’ve experienced.
Verse 3 is surprising to me. Notice it says in verse 3 – And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. You know what that means to me? Absolutely nothing. There’s no excuse for his abuse and then to come along and say, “Well my feelings are there. I long for her.” To try to excuse sexual abuse with good feelings is ridiculous.
So verse 4 says – So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.” I mean I get the impression that this guy Shechem is a spoiled kid. He’s the prince. He’s apparently got everything. You know, everything he wants he gets. So if he doesn’t get it easily, he takes it. And now he just says to his dad, “Hey, get this woman.” Now in those days if you put yourself into that culture then what happens is the dad is looking for someone for you. Trying to find a wife for you. You don’t tell your dad what to do and go and get this person. He’s looking out for you to find the best person and meets another dad who has a girl and they come together and they arrange the marriage. That’s what’s going on. But he’s not fitting into that at all. He’s saying, “Get this girl for my wife.”
What he’s doing is he’s reversing the process that God designed. God designed sex to be a beautiful experience within the context of marriage. That’s how God designed it. In fact one of the very first principles, one of the very first commands in the Bible has to do with sexual intercourse. Let me just take you there. In Genesis 2:24-25 it gives the order of how this is best taken care of. It says – For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and they were not ashamed. There’s no shame in sex within marriage. It's a beautiful thing that God designed, God created. But there's an order that takes place here. Not the order that Shechem’s taking where he violates her and then wants to marry her. That’s totally wrong what he’s trying to do.
So watch what happens now in this story. Verse 5 it says – Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. This is the meeting. This is the bride agreement price to determine what we’re going to do here. The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it… Now listen to their response because the response that they have is powerful considering that they’re before the law takes place. This is what they say – and the men were indignant and very angry. That means they were furious. Indignant is righteous anger. They are mad. Why? Because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing must not be done.
Now this is fascinating because if you look at the period of time that they’re in, this is before the law even took place. We’re in the period of grace where God’s grace is at work in our hearts and we value that in some powerful ways. But before this period of time there was no law. And the law stipulates all kinds of things about right and wrong. Because the New Testament tells us that the law was really a schoolteacher to help us know right from wrong. So the law was there, but this is even pre-law. These guys don’t even have the law yet, but there's something written in their hearts (as Romans 1 says) that they know right from wrong. That this is wrong and they call it an outrageous thing. That’s what it is. An outrageous thing that has taken place.
It further says – for such a thing must not be done. This is bad. But this is what happens when a heart like Shechem’s heart is unbridled. He’s used to getting whatever he wants. He’s spoiled and his selfishness leads him in his sexual passions to just violate someone. It is a terrible thing. For such a thing must not be done.
You know there are some cultures where a woman’s sexuality is the property of a man. Not in the Bible. That is not the case in scripture. This is a great manifesto against sexual assault and sexual abuse, sexual immorality. It's a great statement because there’s this indignant anger that takes place when you have this terrible violation that takes place in this situation. It's before the law even took place because inside their hearts they know right from wrong. These boys grew up in a home where God was present and they’re learning about the Lord and they know there's a right and there’s a wrong and this is wrong. It is bad. And they’re really mad about the whole thing and rightly so.
Let’s see what they’re going to do about it. But Hamor spoke with them, saying (here’s his appeal), “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. Make marriages with us.” Now if you’re reading this after the law was given and you’re in Joshua times or later, you’re going to know that this is a flag that Moses is putting up as well. Because he’s going to tell them do not marry the people of the land. So that’s a flag. We’ll come back to it in a moment.
Hamor is saying, “Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” What he’s saying is let’s all coexist together. There's enough love to go around for everybody.
One of the sad parts of this story is that Shechem somehow feels okay about this to be able to go and say, “Hey now, I want to marry her.” Total rejection of any godlessness. There's lawlessness inside of him that drives him in a terrible way and now Hamor is saying let’s just all coexist together. Let’s all just have one big group hug and everything will be fine. That’s what he’s saying.
You know I’m all for, in our world, trying to unite and everybody live together. That’s all fine. But there's a problem that exists because there's a point where people push us as Christians because we say there are certain things that are wrong. We cannot tolerate these things. This is wrong. And they’re saying to us, “Oh what’s wrong with you. Can’t you just love everybody? Can’t you just coexist with everybody?” And the answer is no. There are certain principles that we abide by that we know are true. There are certain things that God has established that are right and wrong that we don’t allow to take place. We don’t just have this big group hug that’s going on in this passage.
Verse 11 – Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers… So again he’s piping in here. He wants to get his influence going. Notice what he says. He says – “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. Ask me for as great a bride-price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.” Here. I got my checkbook out. How much do you want? Nobody has a price here. Just ask for as much as you want. I’m going to give it to you. He’s just spoiled. He thinks he can buy them off in the midst of this.
Well the sons of Jacob hear this and they’re saying wow, he really wants her. So they’re going to now take advantage of their desire, take advantage of the opportunity here, and they’re going to try to enact justice. That’s their goal here. Notice what it says. The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully (so they’re going to lie here), because (why?) he had defiled their sister Dinah. They are determined to get justice here, but they’re doing it in a roundabout way. They’re going to try to trick them. They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us.” He’s going to draw attention to circumcision.
Let me just remind you what circumcision is. Circumcision is an outward expression of an inward reality. It's a surgery on the male private part that makes a statement outwardly, physically about something that’s going on inside of the heart. The person is dedicated to God. That their heart is sold out on serving the Lord. That’s what circumcision is.
Let’s go on. Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. You have to circumcise every person in your town and if you do that then this will be fine. Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.”
In other words, oh you want to have a big group hug? Okay. This is how we’re going to do it. You can imagine. I mean that’s a pretty big price that’s going to be enacted. I mean if you’re a guy and you’re an adult, that’s going to be quite a surgery that’s going to take place.
Well notice verse 19. And the young man did not delay to do the thing (you know what the thing is), because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father's house. Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying (notice what they report back because what they report back is different than what they agreed upon in their meeting there), “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters.” So one reason we’re going to do this circumcision is so that we can get married. Let’s go on. “Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised.” Now there’s reason number two. “Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.”
There are two reasons why they want to act religious. That’s what they’re doing. They’re going to put on an external part of religiosity without the internal heart change. That’s what they’re going to do. The first one is so they can get married.
Oh I just got to warn you again, young people. There are times when you grew up in a Christian home or you have a love for the Lord and you meet someone who’s not a believer. And they love you too and they start coming to church because they want to marry you. So they start hanging around and it looks like they want to be part of the church, they want to do things that are outward. But they lack the internal heart. They lack the internal stuff. They want to be religious on the outside because they have a goal. I can just tell you what’s going to happen now. I’ll save you some steps here. As soon as you get married that person is not going to come to church anymore. Why? Because they reached their goal. They got married. There are people like that. I’m not saying everybody’s like that. But there are people like that and they only put on the religious outsides so they can get the benefit that they want. In this case to get married.
You’ve got to be careful. The person that you marry must have an internal desire for the Lord, must be demonstrating growth in their own private life, should be praying with you, should be studying the Bible with you, should be initiating spiritually with you. That’s how you’re going to tell that something’s going on inside their heart, not just an outward religiosity.
The second reason they want to get circumcised and put on the religious outwardness is because they want to get rich. There are some people who do religious things so that they can gain wealth. If you become a real estate agent or you become an insurance person or you’re in a multi-level marketing kind of a program where you have to get people under you, one of the recommendations they give you is go hang out with people. Go join the rotary club. Join a church. That’s what’s recommended. Join a church. Because there you’ve got people you can meet and you can tell them all about your business. There's some people who put on the religious front in order to get rich. That’s what’s happening in the passage too.
Well let’s read on. It doesn’t get any better. It gets worse till we get out of this chapter, then it gets better. And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
On the third day, when they were sore (I don’t think we need explanation there), two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.
Their job is and their intention is to enact justice. We’re in pre-law time where justice is likely taken into the hands of the individuals. So coming and taking justice themselves is probably justified in this case. But they go way overboard. When you get to the law the law is going to tell them exactly how to handle difficult situations. The law is pretty detailed about how you handle offenses.
In Leviticus 24 it says there’s an eye for an eye. If someone takes your eye intentionally, then that person could lose an eye. That’s the penalty. If someone breaks your arm then that other person’s arm could be broken. If someone burns you intentionally then they could be burned as well. That’s the penalty. In other words what he’s saying is you don’t take a penalty that’s greater than the crime warrants. Because if you take a penalty that’s greater than the crime warrants then you’re validating this whole idea of justice. These guys come in and slaughter all the men in the city.
Notice what else they do as we go on in verse 28. It says – They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.
There is a problem here in the hearts. Let’s go back to the heart. We already looked at Shechem’s heart. His passions were unbridled, so his immorality just took over and he does this terrible thing. Now we look at Simeon and Levi whose hearts were consumed with anger, so they go out and do this terrible thing. When our hearts are consumed with anger and we don’t have the Spirit of God bridling us and restraining us, then bad things happen.
So as you know, I work with children. Sometimes children have anger that’s out of control. You know that anger is out of control in your heart when these things happen. When the frequency of your anger episodes is greater than life warrants. You’re getting mad a lot. When that takes place you’ve got some problem in your heart. Secondly, when the intensity of your anger episode is greater than the situation warrants. That’s what’s going on here. The intensity of their anger episode is great than the situation warrants. When you find your heart going in that direction you know you’re in trouble and you need help.
It’s only by God’s grace that any of us don’t have a heart that’s going in those directions. It's only by God’s grace that we have the Holy Spirit restraining us in our lives. What we need, what Shechem needed in his life was the Holy Spirit who would provide for him gentleness and kindness, self-control. Those are all fruit of the Spirit. He needed that. Without that he’s dangerous, obviously. What Simeon and Levi need is the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives to give them the restraint, the self-control they need. It's only by God’s grace that we’re able to receive those things.
Verse 30 says – Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”
Now it’s this verse that got me really thinking. Because Jacob is saying our numbers are few. So maybe Simeon and Levi are justified in killing the whole city because if they only kill Shechem then what’s going to happen? Because he’s the most honored in the whole town, the whole city is going to rise up and attack them. So this is self-defense. We're going to kill them all. That was my original thought until I looked more into the passage. First of all in the next chapter, which we’re going to read in just a minute, it talks about God’s work in the midst of Jacob’s life. Now this is not even thinking about them. Are you going to kill everybody out of self-defense somehow. That wouldn’t even be thinking about what God is doing. It’s taking matters into your own hands. We're going to see God has a plan in the next chapter. Watch what He does there.
But I want to take you to a different passage and this is at the end of Jacob’s life. Several chapters ahead in Genesis 49 he reflects on this situation. And this is what he says. He condemns them for what they did. It says – Simeon and Levi are brothers—their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.
So Jacob is condemning their actions at this point, which leads me to believe that their anger was over the top. Which reminds me that I really need to be careful in my own heart. It’s not just immorality and anger. It could be anything. It could be anxiety. It could be materialism. It could be a host of different things that take place in our hearts. If our heart is not bridled then we can find ourselves in all kinds of terrible places. I hope that you think about that in your own heart as I have been with mine.
I’m just grateful. I’m just grateful that God has given me the Holy Spirit in my life to prompt me, to help me see if I’m starting to get into an error right away to correct me and to move me in the right direction. I hope that you’re allowing God to do that. That’s one of the reasons we come together as believers. Because when we come together as believers there’s this connection. That’s why Hebrews says don’t forsake the assembling together. We come together because as we come together there’s this motivation for us to connect with each other and to be reminded of the importance of serving God in the deepest parts of our hearts. Two guys. Shechem – overcome with immorality in his heart. Simeon and Levi – consumed with anger in their hearts. But now let’s turn and end in a positive note, if we can, with Jacob whose heart is just so pliable, so sensitive. When God speaks he listens, he obeys fully. Notice what Jacob does in chapter 35. Let’s end with this because this is where I want my heart to be and I know you want your heart to be here also.
It says in verse 1 – Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” Build an altar. Because when you build an altar externally it helps you do something inside your heart. When you come to the church and you build an altar in your worship it does something inside of you in your life. When you have your quiet time and you build an altar before the Lord it does something inside of you that is so powerful. That is what’s taking place in this story and Jacob is being told by God, “Go and build the altar back in Bethel.” Where is Bethel? Bethel is the place where God met him before. Let’s go back. In other words let’s review your spiritual history here, Jacob. Because as we review your spiritual history you’re going to be connected to me. You’re going to recognize my power in your life. Good things are going to happen. Watch what he does.
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” So first he says let’s get things cleaned up here. Let’s examine ourselves.
You know God has said on a regular basis I want you to celebrate communion. Because when you celebrate communion then you examine yourself. Examine yourself to see if there’s anything you picked up over the last few weeks since the last time you celebrated communion. Is there anything that’s getting in the way of your spiritual health? Because anything getting in the way of your spiritual health you want to get rid of it. So you take it to the cross in communion and you thank God for His gift in salvation and you renew your heart through that communion experience. We come back to the Lord when we do that.
I remember there was a time in my own childhood when my father became really convicted about somehow maybe it was this passage or some other passage in God’s word where kind of going through the house and cleaning things out to make sure there's nothing in our house that might hinder our relationship with God. Nothing that would get in the way. I remember him coming home and saying, “Let’s go into the house and see if there’s anything that we can find that might get in our way.” I’m thinking well in our house there's nothing that’s going to get in the way because our house is petty clean as far as spiritual things are concerned.
But we went into the toy closet and we found this 8-ball. You know the 8-ball where you shake it and it appears and it tells you an answer to a question you asked. My dad said, “You know what? I don’t think we want to have anything in our home that tries to answer questions in life besides the Lord. I think this 8-ball might be a problem in our home, so let’s get rid of it.” So we said, “Okay. Let’s get rid of it.” So my dad said to me and my brother (we’re just young boys), “Take the hammer outside and smash that thing to bits.” So that’s what we did. We went out into the backyard and we smashed that 8-ball to bits. Now I have no idea what you think about 8-balls or whether they’re good or bad. All I’m saying is for us that was symbolic act that we’re cleaning this house up. We don’t want anything in our house getting in the way of our relationship with the Lord. Nothing.
I would encourage you go through your house. Are there any household gods that might be in the way? Something that’s getting in the way of your relationship with the Lord? Get rid of it. I know some of you are thinking of your TV. Maybe. It's up to you.
Notice it says get rid of all of these things. Then it says – Let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in my day of distress and has been with me wherever I have gone. You see when you remember the story when Jacob had left his parents, his first night when he was out he got a rock for a pillow, he laid down, and that experience he was out of the home and he dedicated himself to the Lord. Because he saw this stairway to heaven and it was at this connecting point with God. I’m going to live for the Lord. He’s going to continue to grow in that over time.
So verse 4 says – So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. Do you see that? That’s what Simeon and Levi needed in the previous passage. I’ll read it again. It says – And the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. God is in control. God is working in this situation to protect Jacob.
The next page says – Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. Where has God revealed Himself to you? Maybe you need to go back and visit that place in your own heart and say, “God, I want to get back there where you did that work in my heart.” That’s what Jacob is doing. But it’s not just there. Jacob has multiple experiences with the Lord. We're going to come to another one now. Because he’s kind of reviewing his spiritual history as he’s coming to this new place of dedication to God in his life now that he’s back in Israel.
Verse 8 says – Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel. So it was named Allon Bakuth.
Verse 9 – After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram (that’s where Laban was), God appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to him (we already know this story, we’ve already talked about it, but it’s reviewing his spiritual history), “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.
And God said to him, “I am God Almighty. I am the one who can take care of you. I am the one who’s going before you. I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him. Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.
So here you have a heart. We’re talking about the heart. A heart that’s consumed with immorality with Shechem, a heart that’s consumed with anger with Simeon and Levi, and now a heart that’s consumed with God. A heart that says, “Lord, I just want to give myself to you again.” I think this is what we do every week. Every week when I pray I try to pray for you and I say, “Lord, we dedicate our lives to you. We’re here to dedicate our lives to you again this week. Lord, we want our hearts to be pliable. We know that we can drift.” Because the reality is if you don’t regularly come before the Lord your heart starts to become hard. It starts to decay. You must continually have the Lord tilling up the soil of your heart or it starts to drift into places you don’t want to go and things can get very bad. They can get terrible. They can become outrageous, as the passage says. But the solution is to keep our heart tilled up before the Lord.
What is God saying to you? What does He want to do? Is He calling you back to Him today? He’s saying, “Lord, I want to dedicate my heart to you. I know that’s the best place. Lord, do a work in my heart today. A special work. I just want to be in that place with you. I want to build an altar because I want to do that deep work inside of my heart. The altar is just the outward thing. I’m pouring oil on the altar, but in my own heart, Lord, I want you to pour oil on my heart. The oil of the Holy Spirit to come into my life to control me, to direct me. Lord, prevent me from going astray. Guide me in the path that you have for me.”
Let me just conclude by saying a couple of things. One, this passage is about a rape that starts this whole thing. I just want to say that if you’ve experienced sexual assault or sexual violence in your life that the real healing, the deep healing for your heart takes place with God’s grace. You need that. Sometimes working that out with another believer or another person can help you come to a place of understanding how to tuck God’s grace into every area of your heart that’s been damaged. It may not be rape. It may be some other violent act that has taken place in your life. But God wants to bring about healing.
That’s what God does is He heals our hearts, our broken hearts. We live in a broken world and God wants to do amazing things in us. But God’s grace also helps us deal with the hearts that have gone astray and have done things that are not good. He wants to bring us back to Himself. God’s grace is so big and so necessary that we’ve got to come and do business with the Lord. We’ve got to come to the place where we say, “God, I just want to give myself to you. It's all about my heart. I want my heart to be yours. When you do that then everything changes. It just starts to change. It's the beauty of knowing the Lord. If you’re here today and you’ve never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, this is it. God is speaking to you. You want to make that decision today. You want to say, “God, I want to give myself to you.” And He’ll do an amazing work in your life. He’ll heal you. No matter what you’ve done in your past, He’ll heal you. He’ll bring you to this place that He can use you ongoing.
