Have you heard the jaw-dropping, heart-filling things God says to you? Did you hear Him when He said, ‘I think about you more than the sands of the sea?’
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. (Psalm 139:17-18)
God, gazing at you, thinking about you more than all the grains of sand slipping through your fingers when you scoop up a handful at the beach. And as that sand pours out, blows away, and mingles back into the infinite sparkles of silicon, He continues. Meditating, as it were, on you.
Did you notice when He said, ‘I will be good to you.’
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!( Psalm 34:8)
He invited you to taste.
God isn’t demanding that you eat your broccoli or unconditionally accept His goodness –
Taste is a request. Would you try? No force or threat. It’s not in an angry tone. A kind coaxing like grandma holding out a spoonful of pudding. He knows if you’ll taste, you’ll discover the delight that is Him.
Could it be that you tripped over the compassions He put out to greet you in the morning? Every morning. New – designed and crafted for your day.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22)
Maybe you should pick them up. They were set there for you. Compassions specifically tailored for you, your personality, your trials, your temptations, your pain, your joy. Like so many jewels lying in your path waiting to be picked up and enjoyed.
And did you happen to see His promise to be faithful? A promise – from God to you. Unbreakable. Unalterable. Unflinching faithfulness to you. From the absolute ruler of all things. Faithfulness promised with no hesitation.
But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. (2 Thessalonians 3:3)
Jesus put it this way, ‘I am with you always, even to the end…’. (Matthew 28:20) No one can go any farther than the end. His faithfulness has no end.
I could go on and speak of His love for you, priceless, better than life.
How priceless is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. (Psalm 36:7, 63:3)
His delight in you makes Him sing.
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will quiet you by his love, he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)
His patience is legendary, slow, slow, slow to anger.
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. (Psalm 103:8)
All of this because His heart is precisely tuned to yours. His choice. You are that important to Him. Important enough to turn all the wheels of history to bring about your salvation. To win you, hold you and have you forever.
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am… (John 17:24)
How Does your Heart Respond When…
- You hear God talk like this to you?
- You hear your name on His lips?
- Do His words sink in?
- You allow Him to cup your soul in His great gentle hands?
- Can you open your ears to hear Him speaking to you?
If you can, you’ve taken the first step to emotional availability. Hearing, truly hearing God, opens your heart like nothing else ever can. His words pierce like no other, they shatter walls and touch the most tender parts. They draw you out, make you available.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12-13)
But what if I can’t hear Him? What if hearing those words He speaks make me feel left out? If I don’t feel loved by Him? If I don’t sense His availability to me – and becoming available myself scares me frozen? What if?
Oh, my dear brother or sister, there is no easy answer to that much hurt and doubt. I dare not address your unknown pain. But I can tell you, once that pain and doubt are resolved, once you’ve experienced a season of healing, once your ears can tune to His voice, you will never hear anything sweeter. You will crave more. You will weep with joy you may never have known.
Until then, seek healing. Find answers. Strive to hear God.
For those who can hear and receive God’s loving attention, His emotional availability, imitate Him. Say to others what He says to you. You will open hearts and heal wounds. You will be a spring of water to thirsty souls., and you will love like God.
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 14:13-14)