"I have loved you," says the LORD

"I have loved you," says the LORD. "But you ask,'How have you loved us?'” These are the words I began my day with yesterday out of first chapter of Malachi. I was still thinking about them when my husband invited me to go with him for a ride in the mountains.

Steve had taken the windows off the Jeep so I could see the colors of the leaves, feel the wind and smell the Fall air. "I have loved you," says the LORD. Thinking about these words in Malachi I began to pray a prayer I often pray. "Lord, please help me to look until I can see. Touch until I can feel. Listen until I can understand."

"But you ask, 'How have you loved us?'”This question that follows God pronouncement of His love I think began in the garden when sin caused a veil to be placed over the eyes of the first man and woman who chose to believe the lie that God wasn't really good and He didn't really love them and He could not be trusted. The taste of the fruit of disobedience was the beginning of the loss of ability to be satisfied with the taste of what was good, they could no longer enjoy the fragrance of worship.

"I have loved you," says the LORD. "But you ask, 'How have you loved us?'” It is a humbling thing to believe that I am loved. If I receive a gift I want to be somehow be worthy of it but to receive this gift of love from the LORD means I take my eyes off myself and I begin to see Him. Being in the mountains experiencing the beauty of Autumn with all my senses I acknowledge God's love for me and respond with the worship of a grateful heart.

O Lord, so many times I read in You word that You love me. Please fill my heart with grateful wonder so that I can enjoy the gifts that surround me. In the receiving of Your love let me give to You the gift of worship.