A Good Hurt.

It's always interesting where God takes you.

I read Ecclesiastes because of Knowing God's chapter on God's wisdom.  I finished and didn't know what to read next, so I just kept going.  Song of Solomon.  A quick and beautiful read, thought, 'what the heck, let's keep this train rolling' and realized I have read the beginning of Isaiah several times recently, never finishing.  Instead of tackling that goal, I just skipped it-naturally-and started Jeremiah.
o. my. stars.  

My heart ached while I read the words God gave to Jeremiah to speak.  It was an ache of two parts.  Of deep sorrow and remorse and simultaneously of amazement and thankfulness that's so incredible it hurts.  You'll see what I mean in Jeremiah three...

 11 And the Lord said to me, x“Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward ythe north, and say,

z“‘Return, faithless Israel,

declares the Lord.

I will not look on you in anger,

for aI am merciful,

declares the Lord;

bI will not be angry forever.

13 cOnly acknowledge your guilt,

that you rebelled against the Lord your God

and scattered your favors among foreigners under devery green tree,

and that you have not obeyed my voice,

declares the Lord.

14 eReturn, O faithless children,

declares the Lord;

ffor I am your master;

I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,

and I will bring you to Zion.

15 “‘And gI will give you shepherds after my own heart, hwho will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, iand all nations shall gather to it, jto the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. 18 kIn those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land lof the north to mthe land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.

19 “‘I said,

How I would set you among my sons,

and give you a pleasant land,

a heritage most beautiful of all nations.

And I thought you would ncall me, My Father,

and would not turn from following me.

20 oSurely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,

so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,

declares the Lord.’”

21 A voice on the pbare heights is heard,

qthe weeping and pleading of Israel's sons

because they have perverted their way;

they have forgotten the Lord their God.

22 r“Return, O faithless sons;

sI will heal your faithlessness.”

“Behold, we come to you,

for you are the Lord our God.

23 Truly tthe hills are a delusion,

the orgies2 on the mountains.

uTruly in the Lord our God

is the salvation of Israel.

24 “But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 vLet us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For wwe have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”


Beautiful.  Love and forgiveness.  How desperately He wants us.  He will overlook that we have scattered our love "under every green tree" if only we will come to Him.  Really come, confessing the foolishness of our choice for absence. 

I love that He dreams for us, with us.  'THIS is what it could be like'.  He daydreams for us in promises.  'THIS is what it could be like if you give up your 'less' life and come into more.  

He will give us "shepherds to feed us with knowledge and wisdom".  Enter JESUS.

Ezekiel 34:23...And oI will set up over them one shepherd, pmy servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 

John 10:11... fI am the good shepherd. The good shepherd glays down his life for the sheep.

He will "heal our unfaithfulness".

HE will heal OUR unfaithfulness.

What an incredible gift.