2nd Day : Until where can a heart lead someone?

Hello to all cybernauts!

It is a pleasure to be here with you during these 21 days, and 20 days are left…

Are you ready for a word that “cuts”?

So accompany this event, a fact that happened in Genesis 34: 1-11:

“Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had born to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her. His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, ‘Get me this young woman as a wife.’

And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. And the sons of Jacob came in from the field and when they heard it; and the men were grieved and very angry, because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing which ought not to be done. But Hamor spoke with them, saying, ‘The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. And make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves. So you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade in it, and acquire possessions for yourselves in it.’

Then Shechem said to her father and brothers, ‘Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give.’ “

What happened? We have here, Dinah, who is the daughter of Jacob through Leah, committing a grave error! What was her grave error? She went out to see “the daughters of the land”…

My cybernaut friend, sometimes, when a person does not have the Spirit of God, when they don’t have a commitment with Him, they look for “the daughters of the land,” in more clearer terms, what the world has to offer! Fashion, friendships, who is up “top” at the moment, popularity, etc. They search for honor by “her own terms”, what shines in her eyes.

Perhaps, during this Fast of 21 Days, you are like that daughter of Leah, Dinah… You say you want to the Holy Spirit, but your objectives don’t show it! Your attitudes show that you don’t want anything to do with God. And the proof? The attitudes and the fact that you really want to go to see “the daughters of the land”. This is a grave error! I want to be clear to you cybernauts that are doing this Fast, so that you do not trick yourself, because the heart is desperately wicked! That is what happened with Dinah: the heart influenced her… and he who has those desires, that  wants sees the “shine” of the world, often times the person goes looking for that shine. Look at what happened to Dinah: upon seeing her Shechem, the prince of the land, what did he do?

“…he took her and lay with her, and violated her.”  (Genesis 34: 2)

She went to that land, saw the prince, and do you really think that she just saw him and went away? No! For him to take her, she had to have approached him and a disaster happened… He took her and violated her.

Now let’s look at Shechem, the young man. His soul was attracted to her and he fell in love with Dinah, and it is written the following:

“…His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman.” (Genesis 34: 3)

In truth, what Shechem felt had nothing to do with love! He felt passion and he too was taken by his heart!

Look at where the heart can lead a person: Dinah to danger, and Shechem to his greed!

Shechem said this to his father:

“…Get me this young woman as a wife.” (Genesis 34: 4)

He persuaded his father to do so…

And Jacob? When he found out that Dinah was violated he was shocked and stayed quiet. Shechem’s father went to speak with Jacob, he took the pain from his son and went to fight for him.

“The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. And make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves.”   (Genesis 34: 8-9)

Look at the situation! Even the father tried to, in some way,  make Jacob’s daughter the wife of his son. And it did not stay just like that… More problems! The reaction of the sons of Jacob, who were 11, Joseph was certainly not among them:

” And the sons of Jacob came in from the field and when they heard it; and the men were grieved and very angry;”  (Genesis 34: 7)

It only brought problems… Firstly for Dinah herself;  for her father, for that young man that had nothing to do with the God of Israel, who had his own gods, a whole different culture. What happened?

When you are conducted by the heart, you don’t even see your own attitudes! Do you know what you do see? You see the young man that violated you, you don’t see that you went to “the daughter of the land”. Shechem saw Dinah and became attracted to her and was tempted.

Maybe you are a young man reading this post, and think the following: “I am that man, I have my own weaknesses; when I saw, I did… I was foolish!”

That’s right… This “foolishness” exists when you are lead by the heart! Like the case of Shechem. It is “funny” that he spoke to Dinah’s heart, he tried to persuade her with his words, tried to “serenade” it off, but there was nothing of love about it! If he loved Dinah, he would have waited, he would have respected her! Not violate her… that is not love! Even more so, he didn’t even see the “damage” he did to her, he only saw his own necessity, his own greed, wanting her as a wife. So he convinced his father to speak to Jacob, so that the two could marry, Shechem and Dinah.

Look at Dinah’s problem: Shechem and his father, who did not look at the facts but looked just to the desires of his son and not to mention the sons of Jacob who were really angry… Obviously when a person is violated, who doesn’t get angry? Anger exists, indignation, revolt, injustice because he brought shame for their sister, but because of this, they created a catastrophe! They tricked Shechem and Hamor saying: “Okay! We will let our sister go, but all the males have to get circumcised.” Everyone man in that city was circumcised and on the third day of the circumcision, when they felt the most pain, two sons of Jacob went to the city and they created a disaster and killed all the males including Shechem and Hamor. Will you look at that! One problem creating various other problems!

One problem of your heart, my cybernaut friend, creates problems in your family, creates problems on the outside that you bring to your home…. An unequal world! Unhappiness, misery,  and distress upon your heart.

We are in the 21 days of Fast, and I ask you: Are you seeing yourself or other people? Because the person that sees the errors of others,  does not look at their own. The person that has bad eyes and looks at others, it is because they want to feel better about themselves, that they have the right to judge, but isn’t aware of their own actions. Don’t you know that your actions have consequences; sadness in the time, in your family, even with God; many times your prayers go unanswered, because you pray like the heart of Shechem, that spoke to the heart of that young miss. Maybe you are doing that, searching for God with all your heart: everything that we see in others and we feel wronged, but in reality you have taken attitudes that have been conducted by your heart, you have been unjust with yourself and had created other problems!

My cybernaut friend, I ask that you look at YOU.

There is no way that God can baptize with His Spirit someone who doesn’t see their own necessity. When you look at other’s necessities, you don’t look to resolve your own problems!

Shechem did not look at his problem… Hamor, father of Shechem, did not look at what Shechem did wrong, and he did not punish him for it. The sons of Jacob only looked at their sister, but did not look at the problems that they would create for their father… and Dinah, obviously, became the victim of the story that she herself looked for; she went out to see “the daughters of the land”. Is Dinah had not left her people, none of this would have happened.

When you leave the “environment” of faith and go to see the “daughters of the land,” you bring yourself problems.

We are in the 21 days of Fast and there are 20 days left; how will you search for God?

That is my worry!

We are speaking about the heart and we will continue on this theme, precisely so that you can understand the actions that come from your heart!

I am going to leave you with a space so that you can write your name.

Participate! Whether you’re in Brasil, here in Portugal, in Europe, in the United States, in Africa, and you want to leave your comment below.

You can speak, write down: what is happening with you? How do you see yourself in this Fast?

A strong hug for you all! Until tomorrow!