“Who Is He…….?”

 

The question stops me in my tracks. It reveals such vulnerability…..such transparency. The condescension of an Almighty God asking such a question takes my breath away.

The glimpse into His heart, what He opens Himself up for as a Father, is all too relatable. But to imagine our God great and powerful, yet longing for what is so base, so universal, is humbling.

…who is he who will devote himself to be close to me? declares the LORD

Jeremiah 30:21 captures a moment in time that has so much history intertwined in the question. As God had long-suffered with His chosen children, the nation Israel, history had proven the relationship to be as complex as any other love relationship.

God had created. He had loved. He had even forgiven and rescued many, many times. Yet how had they responded?

For brief periods they would act grateful, loyal, obedient to the terms of the covenant. But eventually, so many of them would backslide into the theology and behavior of their surrounding pagan neighbors.

It’s not like God was asking them to cut themselves or sacrifice their offspring for Him. There were other gods who “required” such despicable acts.

What did He require? What was it that He asked for in return for all He committed to do on their behalf?

[Love the LORD your God] These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands I give you, so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it will go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you. 

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:1-5

Love. God wanted their love.

It reminds me of when we were in grade school and notes would be passed between love interests.

I love you. Do you love me?

But God takes it one step further.

WILL you love Me?

As I read through  the history of the Israelites in the chronological Bible this year, I see the sweeping view of the tangled love relationship they stubbornly choose. It was their own choosing to remain fickle in their hearts toward the Lord. Even after all He had done on their behalf, there were only brief periods of loyalty, up until the time Jeremiah the prophet comes on the scene.

It is at this point you can almost hear the resignation in the Lord’s voice as He asks for a “show of hands” so to speak.

Is there anyone? Somebody? Who is willing to devote himself to be close to me? (Paraphrasing)

The irony of this question is that God is asking it as the people are already in captivity. He is seeking to reassure them while they are there, saying that one day He will bring them back and restore them as before. They will be His again, living in their homeland, and He will be their God.

But the question remains…..will life be any different? Will love be any better?

God is still asking that question today? Who is he, or she, that will devote themselves to be close to Me?

Will you? Will I?

The love He asks for is ours freely to give. That’s what He wants, our hearts devoted to Him because He is so worthy.

We as a people devote ourselves to a lot of different things nowadays: our fitness, our jobs, our children, our hobbies, our beauty, our self-awareness and evolution, our estimation in the eyes of others, our political causes, our churches…….the list is endless.

But there is only one thing that God is looking for on a list.

Who is he that will devote himself to Me………