This year has been the hardest year of my life. In a span of 12 months I watched 5 people die (2 of which I was in the room while they were passing on to the next life) 2 people of cancer and 3 young children whose lives were torn away way too soon for earthly understanding. These events have stripped me to the core and has placed the desire in me to know God even in the midst of tragedy; are you still there God?
Throughout this year I've felt God's wooing presence but this weekend had an impact on me like no other. This weekend I attended my church's Women's Retreat and on Sunday the speaker, Barbara Sandiford, talked about being Betrothed to God. When I returned from the retreat guess what this week's topic in my Breaking Free just happened to be? Being the Bride of Christ. I just had to smile at God and say, "I hear you speaking, I'm starting to get it. I want to be your bride."
You might be starting to think what in the world does being in a desert place have to do with being the bride of Christ? What I've learned through this weekend's retreat and my devotional study has confirmed in me that the evidence of the desert places I've experienced has not shown an abandonment of God to me and my circumstances but He is right there and in fact He is inviting me to know Him and experience Him in an even more intimate way then I ever have before.
Throughout this year I've felt God's wooing presence but this weekend had an impact on me like no other. This weekend I attended my church's Women's Retreat and on Sunday the speaker, Barbara Sandiford, talked about being Betrothed to God. When I returned from the retreat guess what this week's topic in my Breaking Free just happened to be? Being the Bride of Christ. I just had to smile at God and say, "I hear you speaking, I'm starting to get it. I want to be your bride."
You might be starting to think what in the world does being in a desert place have to do with being the bride of Christ? What I've learned through this weekend's retreat and my devotional study has confirmed in me that the evidence of the desert places I've experienced has not shown an abandonment of God to me and my circumstances but He is right there and in fact He is inviting me to know Him and experience Him in an even more intimate way then I ever have before.
Jeremiah 2:2
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.
Ladies, do you remember what it was like when you fell in love with your spouses? You would follow them anywhere and do anything for them. In Jeremiah 2:2 God is reminding the people that when they understood His love they would be willing to walk into those desert places with Him, they would follow Him anywhere.
Hosea 2:14-15
Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.
There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor (trouble) a door of hope.
There she will sing as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
"In that day," declares the LORD,
"you will call me 'my husband';
you will no longer call me 'my master. '
Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.
There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor (trouble) a door of hope.
There she will sing as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
"In that day," declares the LORD,
"you will call me 'my husband';
you will no longer call me 'my master. '
There words have done untold wonders for my heart.
Even though I walk through the Valley
of the shadow of death I will fear no evil,
thy road and thy staff they comfort me (Psalm 23:4).
God does not abandon us in the valleys. He instead extends His hands towards us and invites us to know Him in an even more intimate way; to trust Him with our whole hearts and walk through those times holding His hands and letting Him love on us as a lover loves on His bride. I have said yes and taken His hand, how about you?
God is just waiting for us to draw close to Him. He waits patiently for us to long for Him. What an amazing God!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is such a beautiful progression of verse! I love that God knows our heart, and when we don't really know him the way we tell him we do. I love that he doesn't settle for that. I love that he is passionate about us knowing his heart, and will not stop until we know him as our Husband, and not our master, (John 14-17). And I love that he is always about that with the people around me, not just me. I can rest in his love and not be anxious.
ReplyDeleteI was just looking at John 14, Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. Right before that Peter was saying he would lay down his life for Jesus. Jesus asks him if he would really do this, and then tells him that before the roaster crows he will disown him three times. The beautiful thing is that everything did not hing on Peters faithfulness, but on God's faithfulness! Isn't that beautiful! We have a God that knows that we were just formed from dust! He is the faithful one!
. Don't know that this really relates to what you were saying, just was struck by it, and thought I would share it with you. :)