Oh Jealous Love...

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=71244128335


I rediscovered this video tonight and it just brings tears to my eyes every time. What amazing testimonies of Jesus' saving power and His transforming love! I am constantly amazed at God's pursuit of us no matter how far we are from Him or what we're going through - nothing is too hard for Him (Gen. 18:14) , and no one is out of His reach! This is a God who lovingly seeks and goes after the lost (Luke 19:10). This is a God who rescues us from ourselves, takes us under His wing, restores us to fullness of life in Him, and makes us completely new. This is a God who desires for all of His children to come to repentance and be saved, that not one should perish (2 Pet. 3:9, 1 Tim. 2:4). This is a God whose faithfulness is proven and knows no limits. This is a God who delights to show mercy, who again has compassion on us (Micah 7:18-19). He wants us, so much so that He sacrificed everything for us in the greatest and most radical act of love ever known. He is jealous for us.


And there's nothing we say or do that changes or stifles His desire for us. We can ignore Him, willfully disobey Him, deny Him, and even outright hate Him - yet God's love for us never changes nor does He ever give up on us, because we belong to Him. We were created by Him and for Him. God made us to be complete and whole only in Him and that's why ultimately our souls find rest in Him alone (Ps. 62:1). And all of us will eventually get to this point of realizing that there is absolutely nothing in this world that satisfies apart from God, though we try desperately and endlessly to find this satisfaction and fulfillment in absolutely anything and everything else. Separated from God and feeling an emptiness and brokenness inside that nothing can cure, a gaping void that we cannot fill, we turn to the things of this world for comfort and instant gratification. We mindlessly lose and recklessly abandon ourselves to them in attempts to dull or block the pain, and further separate ourselves from Him in the process (Eph. 4:18-19). We turn to gods who cannot save (Is. 45:20). While we might convince ourselves that we're okay for awhile and that we've got things figured out, what really happens is that we get so lost in our sin and our addictions that we become deceived and blinded to God and His truth that He has placed in all of our hearts that we might know Him (Jeremiah 24:7). And yet all the while, in spite of everything, our hearts and souls are still yearning within us for something that can't be had in all the things the world has to offer. We know at the very core of our beings that we were made for so much more. But we're too afraid to turn back, so we keep on chasing after worldly things and continue on in the fruitless search for "ourselves." And more often than not God will give us over to these pursuits. As much as it breaks His heart to watch us chase after these things that will only hurt us and will never bring us the life we're longing and searching for, the life and the blessings He intends for us to have in Him, He does not force Himself on anyone. He gives us a choice.


What happens then? All of us, inevitably, at some point or another, get our wakeup call. Our idols all of a sudden come toppling down and we find ourselves at a loss. We reach that breaking point, that rock-bottom place where we realize that we have nothing left. Everything we thought we knew and everything we had put our hope in has let us down. The things that used to satisfy us no longer do; their insufficiency and worthlessness is exposed. We find that we're completely enslaved to destructive, life-sucking addictions and we don't know the way out. We've been chasing after emptiness. Our false reality is totally shattered. This is the true reality we come face to face with: we need God. There is no life apart from Him, because He is life. He is the only thing in this world that makes any sense, the only thing that will never pass away, the only One whom we can depend on. We need a Savior, and there is only One (Acts 4:12). We've known it all along deep down but sin had blinded our eyes and hardened our hearts, and pride and/or fear kept us from confronting it and turning (or returning) to Him. And it's there, when we acknowledge the depth of our need, when we admit we can't go on without Him and we call out for His help, that He comes to our rescue and reveals Himself to us. Hope rises up in us again and we're overwhelmed and overtaken by the grace and love of the Living God. And the astonishingly beautiful, incredibly amazing thing is that no matter what has happened before or in the past, no matter how long or how far we've run from Him, all we have to do is look His way and He comes running after us (Luke 15). Our Father takes us back, no questions asked, no guilt hanging overhead, no expectations, no conditions. He just loves us. He has desperately missed us. He welcomes us home to Him, to the place where we belong.


I have been there. I think we all have or we all will at some point or another. I know what it's like trying to find security in things apart from God. I know what it's like to live a life without true purpose or meaning, the emptiness of it all. I know the utter misery of being enslaved to sin and the hopelessness and shame it breeds. And I know the heartbreak that comes when those things I have wrongly put my confidence and trust in fall apart and let me down. God in His great mercy and patience guided me through some times of intense pain and struggle, times when I didn't know how I'd go on or how I'd ever be healed from the heartache I was experiencing. And now when I look back I can see how He was very clearly teaching me this very lesson: that nothing and no one apart from Him can truly satisfy or fulfill me. That there is no one like Him, no one or nothing who even comes close to Him. He and He alone is enough and He is all I need. It was a difficult lesson to be sure, but so worth it. It strengthened my faith and my trust in God like I never would have believed and brought me so much closer to Him. I have experienced so much joy and so much freedom, beyond what my words can convey, from letting God be my all in all and actually experiencing it, actually living it. It's gloriously true. It's completely real. It's the only real thing there is. When I put my trust in God to be my everything, when I gave Him all of my heart and devotion and placed Him on the throne over my life, He completely came through for me. He lifted me out of the depths. He revealed Himself to me in a huge way and He continues to reveal Himself to me in all new ways all the time. The things of this world hold nothing for me anymore, they have no meaning whatsoever; they don't even begin to compare to everything I have in Him. Unspeakable, unshakable joy and peace have replaced anxiety, restlessness and insecurity in me, regardless of circumstances. This is my testimony! I'm eternally grateful and so thankful to God for His faithfulness during my times of wandering and faithlessness, that He remains faithful even when I am not (2 Timothy 2:13). And He always will be, because that is who He is. I hold out hope for all who are far from Him now, those who are running away from Him as well as those who don't even know Him yet. I believe and know full well that He will not leave or forsake them (Heb. 13:5), that as we lift them up He will draw them unto Himself and shine the light of His truth into their lives. He will set the captives free (Is. 61:1). Everyone will know that He is Lord!


C.S. Lewis says it all remarkably well...


"Idols always break the hearts of their worshipers."


"God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there."


"All that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy."


"Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."


It's just no use denying God. It's no use running from Him. The picture I always get is one of trying to run down an escalator that's going up. We do everything in our power to run from Him, do everything we can to avoid going to Him for help, because we know it'll be the end of ourselves and in selfishness we're not willing to give up our "right" to ourselves. We think we know best and can find life on our own. So we run and run, but we never find rest. We become exhausted and miserable. Eventually we lose steam, our strength runs out and we have to give up. But when we do, when we finally quit running and surrender to God, we find God waiting with open arms. He's been there all along, and He has been the one in control. We were never going to get away. We were never even out of His reach.


Long I flirted with the flame of sins entice
All my wandering has yet to satisfy


Oh jealous love, I'm through
Walking away from You


You're running with open arms
You hold me close and say welcome home


Lord I throw myself on the mercy of Your cross
A love so undeserved and at no cost to me


Oh jealous love, I'm through 
Walking away from you


You're running with open arms
You hold me close and say welcome home
You dress me in royal clothes 
You hold me close and say welcome home


Home where I belong
Home where love is freely given
All's forgiven


I'm running to open arms
You hold me close and say welcome home
You dress me in royal clothes
You hold me close and say welcome home


Lord God, thank You that no matter where we are, You always welcome us home. Thank You that You are the great Rescuer, Restorer, Deliverer, Healer, and Redeemer! That You even use those times of our wandering and faithlessness for our good and for Your glory - You turn them into amazing testimonies of Your saving power, Your matchless grace, Your perfect faithfulness and Your unfailing, unrelenting love for us. I stand in awe of who You are and how You work! Thank You for rescuing me from the dominion of darkness and bringing me into Your kingdom, for showing me life. Life that is extraordinary. Life that cannot be found anywhere else.


My soul finds rest in You alone.