Fall Madly In Love With God

Jeremiah 50:4-5 -  "In those days, at that time," declares the LORD, "the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God.  They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

 

Babylon had served its purpose in punishing the wayward people of God.  It too would be crushed and destroyed by God.  Israel would be lifted up and renewed….their hearts would turn once again to the need they had for God’s care and love.  They would fall so deeply in love with God this time that they would not forget the covenant they had made with him.

 

God had punished his people enough…he had watched the other nations treat them as lions treat the sheep of prey long enough. God was calling them home….collecting the scattered remnants of his people and restoring them to him once again.

 

Honestly…my first thought was very selfish…for I saw the words ‘come home’ and visualized my own return to my childhood town of Sevierville Tennessee. I have longed for several years to return closer to my mom and dad in their aging years…and reestablish the sparse relationship I have with my family and sisters that live close by.

 

I know in my heart that this scripture goes far beyond any desire of my heart…and God is saying that all his people will return so completely to him one day that they will fall madly in love with him instead of the worldly thing they cling to now. Whatever struggle or storm he asked us to walk through will come to an end….and the end of that lesson in faith will usher in a feeling of radical love that we have never known before.  He will begin to raise us up with wings like eagles…and renew our strength….and show us how to soar on his strength and love.

 

We will be so madly in love with God that we will understand the importance of praising him through and for our storms. We will return home to tell of God’s lessons in our lives that taught us how to love him more than anything this world can offer us. He will use our success in overcoming and weathering the worst of life to help someone else come to know his love.

 

Father…I thank you for the reminder that a love for you is the most important factor in my life. Forgive me for the times that I fell in love with worldly things.  Show me how to fall madly in love with you. Help me to write the story of how you helped me weather the storms of life so completely on my heart that I can share exactly the part of how you helped me with each person I meet.  Use me Lord to help others…deepen the love I have so the well of resources I have in you never runs dry.  Amen.