love and Love

Last night I went to a Biblestudy that is working through the book “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan. It was the first night of the study for the semester. Instead of jumping into the book right away and reading the first chapter or even the forward, we meditated on what Love really is. It’s so easy to use words like Grace and Love and Mercy without having any clue as to what depth of meaning they hold.

We spent a good amount of time reading through passages in the Old Testament that spoke of God’s love. Now that is something different. I think that since I’ve usually looked to the New Testament for verses on God’s love, I’ve been left with a slightly incomplete idea of what Love really is. When you read about how God Loves His nation, Israel, and how his anger burns against them at the same time for their unfaithfulness, you gain a sense of how God’s Love goes beyond what I can understand and comprehend. Read through Hosea. It’s powerful.

My high school english teacher once said that the opposite of love isn’t hate, its apathy. I think that statment is true. God Loves His people because He promised them He would and established a covenant with Abraham that made them a chosen race. However, He is simultaneously angered by their adultry and their sin. They choose over and over again to forsake Him and turn to worthless idols and false loves.

But in God’s anger, we see love. He Loves his people so much that He is jealous. He is angry at their unfaithfulness. He desires them to be content in His presence and His alone.

Oh how I am like Israel! I seek love and fulfillment in so many different things and different through so many different means. The love i find here on earth from relationships or doing things I enjoy will never measure up to the jealous Love of God.

I think that when we are content in God’s Love and fulfilled in Him alone, nothing in this world will satisfy. Which is good, because it never seems to anyway.