That word does not appear in Scripture until 2 Kings 20:5, where Hezekiah, having learned of his approaching death from Isaiah, “turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord;” God responded through Isaiah, “return and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life…’”
I have not encountered many people who prayed, with such a burdened heart, that I saw and heard the tears emanating from that broken heart as they poured out their concerns before the Lord. (However, I have encountered some that gave evidence of such concern and experienced personal blessing from that experience.)
Reading through the first chapter of Genesis recently, I had no problem in envisioning how “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” What happened between verses one and two may yield to conjecture, but we know that it “was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep.” Inasmuch as God was about to create man, there was need for a habitable abode. The materials were already there, and He had been moving upon the surface of the waters; so He moves next by creating light. From there we see the continual progression of creation, as well as, human beings and man placed in Eden.
Some have concluded a multiplicity of ideas, which I have no intention to discuss herein, but to simply state that the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God, like the artist, starts with a canvas and paint and ends several chapters later with HIS creation of six days and it was “good”. I also have concluded from a multiplicity of portions of Scripture that the “darkness” was alien to God who was “light, love and life”. (1 John 1:5; 4:8; 5:20). He took what was “formless and void” and molded it into our universe. Then He took that material and the triune God, of Genesis 1:26, said: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our Likeness…” Further, 2:7 indicates that “Then the Lord God formed man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Have you ever thought that your breath originated from God, and that every breath of oxygen you breathe is from God? If corona virus, and our machines to keep people alive have not got you thinking along those lines, try it!)
The 3rd Chapter of Genesis relates how sin entered into the human race and God’s initial punishment, driving them from Eden, “to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.”
There we have the “broken heart of the Lord” toward sin! But, I have purposely skipped over God’s dealing with Satan on this issue; so let us look back to that reference. (Genesis 3:14) “The Lord God, said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than any beast of the field; on your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life; and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”
We have the prophecy concerning how God deals with sin. The promise is for the sin bearer, Jesus, who would bruise the head of the serpent while Christ would be bruised only on the heel.
The gravity of your sin and mine ultimately nailed Jesus to a cross. God promised that would be satisfactory, and only that, for “the enmity between” the seed of Satan and the seed of the woman. A humbled heart between us and God and an acknowledgement of the sufficiency of Christ is needed by all.
What catches our attention in these opening verses of Genesis 1 is that “God created”. The fact that it was “formless and void” does not present a problem, that is if you need a few million years, (more or less) to understand how at His bidding, after moving over the “surface of the waters”, He injected “LIGHT”. The sun, moon and stars came later.
Some quick thoughts… Jesus wept over the death of Lazarus. (John 11:35) He also “beheld the city, (Jerusalem) and wept over it”. (Luke 19:41) And for those whom He wept over, and acknowledge their sin and His salvation, “and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)
ETCetera 