What's your love story?
The story involving God and yourself.
Each story is unique and beautiful.
In the times of brokenness
when we are suffering the most
The Great Lover reveals Himself to us.
It is in our brokenness when we can see the most clearly;
When the truth of what we built our fragile lives on is finally put to light.
The book of Jeremiah tells of a tragic love story between God and the Israelites.
Israel has cheated on God and He calls out to them:
'I remember the devotion of your youth,
how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the desert,
through a land not sown.
3 Israel was holy to the LORD,
the firstfruits of his harvest;
all who devoured her were held guilty,
and disaster overtook them,' "
declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 2:2-3
"If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him and marries another man,
should he return to her again?
Would not the land be completely defiled?
But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers—
would you now return to me?"
declares the LORD.
2 "Look up to the barren heights and see.
Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers,
sat like a nomad [a] in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and no spring rains have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;
you refuse to blush with shame.
4 Have you not just called to me:
'My Father, my friend from my youth,
5 will you always be angry?
Will your wrath continue forever?'
This is how you talk,
but you do all the evil you can."
Jeremiah 3:1-5
God doesn't get angry but instead pleads with Israel patiently and lovingly to repent. He promises to forgive them and bless them again. He warns them of what will happen if they don't come back. He doesn't want them to have to face the consequences and suffer.
This happens for the entire book of Jeremiah but....... Israel never repents.
How many times do we cause grief to Him? Yet He's always there waiting....for us.
This is our God praise His name.
but the story doesn't end there:
Israel is taken captive and suffers greatly, and in the time of brokenness She cries out:
1 How deserted lies the city,
once so full of people!
How like a widow is she,
who once was great among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces
has now become a slave.
2 Bitterly she weeps at night,
tears are upon her cheeks.
Among all her lovers
there is none to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her;
they have become her enemies.
3 After affliction and harsh labor,
Judah has gone into exile.
She dwells among the nations;
she finds no resting place.
All who pursue her have overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.
4 The roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to her appointed feasts.
All her gateways are desolate,
her priests groan,
her maidens grieve,
and she is in bitter anguish.
Lamentations 1:1-4
The entire book of Lamentations is a cry to God. A time when Israel is in complete brokenness, desperation and hopelessness.
but it is in that time when the hearts of the people are set straight again......
and out of that comes a new hope amidst the suffering
18 So I say, "My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the LORD."
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
Lamentations 3:18-26
God uses (but doesn't cause) suffering and trials to set our hearts back on the right place so that He can continue His work in us. (James 1:2-4)
Before something can be made new and beautiful you have to destroy the old and ugly.
It is also during those times of pain where we grow the most and walk the closest with God..
Trust, know that he is good, have faith that He knows whats best and learn more about the Great Lover of your soul.
