DESIRE

We sang and worshiped the Lord last night at church, the last night for Presbytery here at CFC. It was wonderful, liberating, joyful and refreshing. As we moved from song to song, one refrain rang out. "We are His desire". We read it on the overhead, we sang it with our voices, we heard it in our spirits.

Shouldn't we be singing He is our desire. Yes, we know He is. For those who have been redeemed we know, He is our desire. Where would we be without Him? Our confidence, our friend, our Savior, our King, our deliverer, our healer, our Restoration.

But no. We sang, we are His desire. And that is right and it is wonderful, almost too good to be true. Despite our sin, our indifference, our insistent on independence, we are His Desire. Our creator's desire is His creation. A relationship with Him, on a personal, intimate level.

And I was reminded of reading the book of Hosea last month. An account of redemption, sacrifice, and ultimate love.

The Prophet is told to go and take a wife who is a harlot. What? That does not make sense. But it is a story and a visual picture of how much God loves and seeks for us. And Hosea is obedient to his calling.

Gomer and Hosea are wed and they have a son. There are two other children who Hosea names but we don't really know if they are his. In fact, God tells him to name his last child Lo Ami, "not mine". Hosea is to love this woman as God loves the children of Israel.

In chapter 2 we see that Gomer has become a street walker again, and is unfaithful to Hosea. In chapter 3 she is for sale. She has sunk so low that now her current lover has her on the auction block. For sale as a slave. And God tells Hosea, "go again" and get her, buy her back.

"Go again," One more time. Show her my love. Show her how much she is worth. Show her how priceless she is. To me, to you.

Hosea pays an enormous price to get her back, financially, socially and emotionally. To love anyone with problems, issues, addictions, and sorted pasts requires a subsitutionary sacrifice. A love greater than ones self.

And so we see and understand how much we are God's desire through the prophecy of Hosea. We understand Isaiah 64 better; "Your maker is your husband".

We get a more complete picture of our relationship with the Lord. Yes, he is our King and we are his subjects. He is our great Shepherd and we are his sheep. He is our Father and we are his children. But now we are told we are his bride and we are His desire. A relationship so intimate, so personal, so tender, so life changing, so securing.

A marriage, a relationship of priority. That's what we are to Him. Just as I saw Christian rejoicing over Elizabeth as she walked down the isle of the church with organ music swelling, trumpets sounding and witnesses standing. God rejoices over us.

Just as Gomer found rest in her husband, Hosea's love, we find hope and purpose and rest in God's love and desire for us.

A beautiful passage:

Hosea 11:3 "It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms, but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them."