God, the Ultimate Lover

Monday, February 14th, 2011

Today's Passage: Exodus Chapters 32, 33, and 34 (E-100 Reading)
Memory Verse(s): Matthew 12:30

What is it about our human makeup that makes it so easy to forget the positive but remember the negative?  How come when it really counts for us to remember and do what God says, we focus instead on something completely different?  The children of Israel are a perfect non-example of what being totally devoted in our relationship with God should look like.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't today's passage take place only a short while after they had just received the commandments from the very mouth of the Lord Himself?  In Exodus 19 and 20, which we read yesterday, God revealed Himself to all the people in a cloud, where He spoke to them in an audible voice through the lightning, thunder, and thick cover of smoke.  As I read, I saw that the very first thing God did was give them His identity.  He reminded them that HE was the One Who had brought them out of their bondage.  

The very next words were telling them NOT to make images out of anything to worship.  He didn't even want them to fashion an altar for HIM out of tools.  And what do they do?  As soon as His and Moses' backs were turned, they did the VERY thing He told them not to do!  So heartbroken was He that He wanted once more to repent of giving humanity another chance to exist.  But again, an intercessor, Moses, stepped in between and reminded Him of His promise to Abraham.

Saints, we must understand that our God is an emotional God.  Yes, He's mighty and can devastate our very existence with a mere snap of His fingers.  But He is so desperate to be loved, worshipped and adored by us that He does everything that He does just to get our attention.  He is the ultimate Lover; every morning we wake up, He's created a beautiful painting from the canvas of the sky for us.  We are wooed by the singing of the birds, reminding us of How much we are loved.  But we must not forget that love isn't love unless it's returned.  He wants to hear His Name on our lips; wants to know that we live to bring Him pleasure with our lives.  He wants us to run to and not away from Him, remorseful rather than prideful and unrepentant when we disappoint Him.  His laws are for our protection against the enemy of our souls.  Today and everyday, let's show our love for our God through our total devotion to His ways.

Prayer: Father, You are my heart's desire.  Everything that I am is because of Who You are.  From the moment I invited You into my life, You've never stopped showing me that You love me.  So I live everyday to show You that my life is Yours forever.  Let my love flow from the depths of my soul to Your people, giving them evidence that You are alive and well on this earth.  In Jesus' Precious Name, Amen.