You Did Not Wait For Me To Draw Near To You

This morning I woke up to these words being sung on the radio,"You did not wait for me to draw near to you but you clothed yourself in frail humanity. And I'm forever grateful for you and I'm forever grateful for the cross. I'm forever grateful for you. You came to seek and save the lost." As I prepare myself for Advent I wrap myself in this truth like a warm cloak on a winter's day.

This truth of a love that was initiated not from me but from the heart of God is all through the Scriptures. The book of Jeremiah was written to a rebellious nation. They refused to obey God's precepts they, would not heed His law, they refused to pay attention to the prophets God sent to cause them to repent. God pronounced judgement on them and they were sent into exile to Babylon. Yet, that wasn't the end of the story. In Jeremiah 31:3 it talks about God's everlasting love,"Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee." Everlasting love that comes to seek and save the lost.

One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 119. In it I hear the heart of someone who is truly seeking God. "I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word." My heart echos the rejoicing and delight in the word of God. I also fully identify with the last verse of this Psalm." I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands." My relationship with God is not because I have a tight grip on him but because he has loved me with a love that doesn't let go.

Sometimes when I come to God in prayer for the ones I love my heart is heavy. I see hopeless situations. I see people who seem to be straying so far from God and I see no chance that they can ever find their way back. Then I am remind of the words of Jesus. "If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?"Matthew 18:10-14 Who is seeking whom? It is not the lost sheep that is seeking the shepherd. It is the shepherd that seeking the sheep. If that shepherd is also the Sovereign Lord of the Universe I can trust he is able to find what he looks for.

Lord Jesus, as I think about how you fulfilled all your promises to be our Savoir by coming to earth in frail humanity I am forever grateful. Thank you for not waiting for me to come near to you. Thank you for coming to seek and save the lost.