Our God Begging : Part I

                                                   This is what the LORD says:    

                                            “What fault did your fathers find in me,
                                       that they strayed so far from me?.." - Jeremiah 2:5(NIV)

When you read the Prophets, there is a trend that you pick up and, just like getting used to a beautiful mountain, becomes so familiar that we forget, nay, neglect, its beauty and in doing so forfeit the very encounter of God's heart. The enormity of this is much more a miracle than the very creation of the universe, and at it's heart it's a paradox, for it is more beautiful than Eve's smile yet much sadder than the sound of her cry. The trend is this: God begs His children to come back to His ways, His very heart, and the Father does so repeatedly it breaks my heart just wondering how He bears it.

You would think that the self-sustaining YAHWEH, the Creator without a creator would not have a heartbreak over anything. You would think that He would annihilate or at least choose to forget all those who were His yet denounce His ways by their deeds and prostitute themselves to other gods, who are not gods at all. Indeed I would think His heart is not attached to objects that are not even the most beautiful of His creation. Thing is, you and I are not Him. When choosing a people, this is what He says:

                                 " See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
                                            your walls are ever before me." - Isaiah 49:16

For a reason in my humanity I will never be able to understand He chooses to bind Himself to those He has chosen to love. The above scripture is beyond me. How is it that He takes these people and engraves them on His hands such that He cannot look away from them, and as He says, "Your walls are ever before me", meaning He is constantly compelled to look upon His chosen ones, and since He never sleeps, every move they make is before Him and every time they suffer or rebel He is compelled to watch. No wonder he is constantly in agony of the prostitution of His bride! To understand my meaning, take a cup of coffee and read Ezekiel 16.The love story that will unfold before your eyes will make Jane Austen seem like kiddy tales.

The book of Judges gives us a pattern that shows the true sadness of this. They forsake Him and prostitute themselves to other gods, and He hands them over to their enemies, then they call out to Him, and He saves them. Over and over again. And He continually says stuff like "Come, and let us reason together, though your sins be red as crimson, they shall be like wool." Isaiah 1:18. It's almost as if He's using all leverage He has to get them to look at Him, anything to turn them away from their sin. It's almost as if, dare I say it, He's begging. Imagine.

And then, right in the midst of the complaint, He speaks of a time when they will follow His ways. He says for His own glory, since His Name has been profaned among the nations, His people will be careful in His instruction. As a woman consoles herself after a heartbreak when her beauty is questioned, so does God speak heavily of a time when He will rule from the throne in Jerusalem and on men's hearts. He speaks of a time, the Millenial Kingdom as scholars call it, when every breathing soul will no longer profane His Beauty. Jesus, King of Kings, will come again and end God's begging.

 "For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land.  I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." - Ezekiel 36:24-27 (NIV)