Forgive me in advance for this feeble attempt of mine to show God in a different light.
A light that I never grew up looking in to.
A light that changes everything.
Most of us can agree that there is some kind of higher power at work in this world.
What you want to call Him or 'it' makes no difference to me, or really to Him.
(He's a big guy, He can handle it.)
So whether you want to call Him God, YHWY, Allah...
Lets just call Him God to make things easier.
(What's in a name...)
Lets look first at what's starring us in the face.
GOD.
The
uncreated
alpha/omega
beginning end
knows all
sees all
is everywhere
knows everything
creator of the universe
breather of life
author of everything seen and unseen...
GOD.
Loves humans.
Cliche', I know.
(yeah yeah, nick. we get it. God loves us.)
But really though... He LOVES us.
And this is what this note is about.
Exodus begins with the God of compassion, the God of justic, hearing the cry of slaves in Egypt and setting ou to do something about it. God sends a man, Moses, to rescue them, and it's through Moses that God makes four promises to these slaves.
"I will take you out."
"I will rescue you."
"I will redeem you."
"I will take you to me."
There's a reason why these four promises are so significant - they're the promises a Jewish groom makes to a Jewish bride. This is wedding language.
And that is what the Bible is all about. Its a love story from the table of contents to the book of maps. 66 love notes from God to humans.
In the poem called Song of Solomon, God through Solomon shows us exactly how He feels about us.
"You have captured my heart, my treasure, my bride. You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes. Your love delights me, my treasure, my bride. Your love is better than wine..." (SOS 4:9-10)
God is captured by us. One translation reads "ravished."
The maker of heaven and earth is ravished by humans.
We make His heart beat faster when we look at Him.
When we tell Him we want Him, He gets butterflies.
We so easily get trapped in the legalism of religion. We find ourselves in bondage to Christianity.
We want so badly to follow all the rules. As long as we don't make any waves everything will be okay.
And we get stuck.
We have no joy.
We have no purpose.
Our eyes look for the next 'God' experience to make everything okay again.
To make us feel alive.
But then we go back to our legalism and find ourselves dead and dry.
Longing for more of God.
So we go to prayer line.
And we get a little touch.
We fall down.
Then it's over.
And your stuck on the ground thinking to yourself
"Should I just get up now? Or should I wait."
And we go about our week and do it all over again.
And then when were asked about our beliefs we say something like
"I don't drink. I don't cuss. I don't have sex. I don't steal."
But Christianity is not just an abstract set of morals.
It's not a list of do nots.
It's an engagement.
It's a love affair.
He just wants us to look at Him.
To pay attention.
To hold His hand.
But we run away from Him. When we think "maybe there is a God that loves us" we get lazy.
We think "It's just a bunch of rules. I want to have fun."
So let's look at that.
Because, sure, there are 'rules.' Things said in the bible that we as Christians line up our lives with.
Things we don't do. Things we do.
A couple of close friends of mine are romantically involved and I asked them a series of questions about their relationship.
Things like:
"Do you both have expectations for the other to meet?"
"Do you expect each other to behave in a certain manner?"
Both said yes.
The boy expects things of the girl.
The girl expects things of the boy.
We all have these expectations.
I think we'd all agree on that.
And that is how God is.
He expects things from us in this relationship.
And we expect things from Him.
It's healthy. But it's not make or break.
If we fail to meet His expectations all the time He doesn't dump us.
He doesn't give up on us and move on. He is a strong lover. Nothing can quench His love.
The same couple had an issue where the boy had sinned against the girl by looking at pornography.
This hurt the girl, obviously, and embarrassed the boy.
I asked the girl how she felt when it happened.
"Betrayed" was her reply.
Then I asked her if his confessing that to her made their relationship stronger.
"Yes." Was the resounding answer.
It was always a yes.
She felt closer to him through that situation. She went so far as to say that though it would be best for them to never betray each other, every fight, every struggle, every betrayal has brought them closer together in the long run.
This is the exact same way with God.
Unconfessed sin is a secret kept from the heart of God. A betrayal undealt with. A secret love-affair with someone else's lover.
Unconfessed sin is a cheating on God.
But when we come to Him...
When we speak up...
When we admit our failures and weaknesses God draws us closer to Him.
Because this relationship goes two ways.
In Song of Solomon scriptures says "I am my lover's, and He is mine."
We are God's.
and God is ours.
We can expect Him not to cheat on us.
He can expect us not to cheat on Him.
But when we do, though it would be best not to, it brings us closer.
God is love.
He is affection.
He has nothing but love for us.
He is not an angry father waiting for you to mess up.
He is not an upset coach yelling from the sidelines.
He does not expect the worst in us.
He just wants us.
He wants us
Unadulterated
transparent
gross
disfigured
bleeding
bruised
heartbroken
confused
insecure
thirsty
hungry
bashful
sinful
naked
ashamed
US.
Let's want Him back.
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