He Longs For Me

"Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.  For the Lord is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him.  O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you." Isaiah 30:18-19 (underlining mine)

Currently I'm involved in Priscilla Shirer's bible study, Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted.  Though we are only on week three, God has convicted me, blessed me, and encouraged me.  Like Jonah, I have, more than once, ran away from what God has called me to do.  I have justified my jog (yeah, I'm not much of a runner) in the other direction.  I have blamed others for getting me off track.  And I too have tried to get on a boat and sail far, far away from everything dear to me, including the presence of my Lord. 

But my Lord longs for me (and you).

Do you grasp the magnitude of that?  Do I need to say it again?  The Lord longs for you.  I'm reminded of a poem I read in high school that has not, and will not leave me.  It is by far one of my favorites.  And to me, this is what love feels like

This Want of You

This want of you is like no other thing;
It smites my soul with sudden sickening;
It binds my being with a wreath of rue - -
This want of you.

It flashes on me with the waking sun;
It creeps upon me when the day is done;
It hammers at my heart the long night thru - -
This want of you.

It sighs within me with the misting skies;
Oh, all the day within my heart it cries;
Old as your absence, yet each moment new - -
This want of you.

 Mad with demand and aching with despair,
It leaps within my heart and you are - where?
God has forgotten, or he never knew -
This want of you.
 - Ivan Leonard Wright


And if that is how I feel love as a mere human - do I dare imagine how God's longing for us may be?  Can you comprehend it?  Can your wrap your mind around it?  Do you accept that He longs to be gracious to you?  Do you accept that He desires to be compassionate to you?  Or do you, like so many (including myself), wonder if God looks on you with disdain, shaking His head, wondering why it is He created you?  You wonder if maybe you should give up because - quite frankly - you are just too far gone? 

My friend, wrap yourself up in this verse.  Get it deep down in your heart.  Allow the Holy Spirit to give you a supernatural revelation of what God is trying to say to us through this verse.  He is not like us.  He does not want to punish us.  He does not want to give us "what for".  He does not want to say "I told you so."  He does not want to rub your nose in your mistakes. Instead, He longs to be gracious to us.

My friend Webster defines long as: to feel a strong desire or craving especially for something not likely to be attained.

(Take my breath away.) 

Are you listening my friend?  Are you getting this?  He knows there will be times when you will turn your face away from Him, but that does NOT keep Him from desiring you and looking for every opportunity to be gracious to you.  And it does not keep Him from trying.  That would go against His very nature! 

So - now the question is: Are you running?  Has He asked you to do something that you quite honestly do not want to do?  You are not alone my friend.  BUT!  Knowing what you now know - how can you keep running?  How can you simply turn your face away from His grace?  I know that what He has called you to do is not easy.  I know that it requires sacrifice.  I know that you will stand before Him broken.  I know, because - I too am there.  But surrender yourself to Him today. 

He has chosen you for this task because you were perfectly made to accomplish it.  He can do it alone.  He doesn't need your help.  But He chooses to use you as His vessel.  Allow Him to mold you into the man or woman of God to fulfill His plan. 

He is The Master of taking what is broken and producing a Masterpiece.  Will you allow Him to do that today?