"Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the LORD." Jeremiah 31:20 (NKJV)
An easier translation of the same verse:
“Is not Israel still my son, my darling child?” says the LORD. “I often have to punish him, but I still love him. That’s why I long for him and surely will have mercy on him." Jeremiah 31:20 (NLTV)
Contrary to what many may seemingly take for granted, true love isn't always only pleasant to us in our current state. Sometimes it can be a little rough to bear. This may sound somewhat disturbing to some, but it's a fact and something that we really need to get a good hold on in our understanding. At times, true love is required to correct - to discipline, to move, for the good of the target of its affection. I make no mistake in my understanding that God is perfect love, but I well understand from scripture that true Love has an inherently righteous intent to prosper the object of it's intention. And that the true prosperity that I mentioned is anchored in the values of God's economy, which is not necessarily in agreement with man's, but instead, far supersedes it and often opposes it. These are things that I believe that we need to be thankful for.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)
I struggle in my own heart these days as I witness how some are deluded to think only on the pleasantries involved in relating to our God. For example, we know without a doubt that God is Love according to scripture and for many that word love evokes nothing but warm, tender feelings based on a particular understanding of what love is. These days though, that word has been forced to endure perverse, seemingly endless, redefinitions by the world. As with all truth though, it's true definition remains out of man's reach to change it as will be proven in the end. Still, even among some so called "Christian" communities these days, the word "love" is being permitted to be used in connection with things that God has labeled as wrong. And in truth, I'm convinced that that's not love, but instead nothing more than mankind's lust wrapped in a different, although incorrect, label.
Before I pass the opportunity here, I'd like to point out that God is Love, but He's also many other things. He's perfect in every facet of His character and being. So He's perfect love, perfect righteousness, perfect Holiness, perfect wisdom and understanding, and also perfect in terrifying power, just to name a few. So to think of Him as love is wonderful truth, but a truly wise person will also at the same time learn, and recognize, all that He is and respect (have "holy fear" of) Him accordingly ... because He is all that He is ... all of the time.
"Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him." 1 Johyn4:15-16 (NKJV)
For myself, knowing undeniably that God is in fact the purest form of love, I am reminded of the many times in scripture that The Lord corrected Israel in order to draw them back to Himself - and not always gently. There have been those in the history of scripture, that God has judged that were already lost to Him and He removed them. And having created them, He had the sovereign right to remove them. I think we may lose sight of the fact that we are not our own masters, and of who The Master actually is, if in our hearts we object to His righteous judgment.
"Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand." Deuteronomy 32:39 (NKJV)
For others, at times the correction was harsh, but the intention was always to save them, as His people, from becoming completely lost and useless toward His loving plans for them. There have been many individuals that He corrected in scripture as well. King David was corrected. Jonah was corrected, Saul who would become the Apostle Paul was corrected, for example. If we earnestly study scripture, we find over and over again, the many times that Love was willing to do the hard things for the benefit of the object of His affection. Love was, and is, unwilling that any should perish. We choose, but Love's desire is for our redemption and salvation, and will at times intervene in uncomfortable ways to draw us to Himself - not out of an ill will, but out of the strongest form of love. Love is more than just warm feelings, much more.
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9 (NKJV)
There are those that seem to think that The Lord isn't actively involved in our daily lives. And among those, there are some who don't believe that The Lord disciplines us as we journey here. I'd remind those people of the scripture following and that it's included in the New Testament - not the Old. And also that both love and discipline are connected in it;
"And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons." Hebrews 12:5-8 (NKJV)
A valid question might be asked; Are we paying attention to the correction and involvement of The Lord or writing it off as something else? Something to think about.
Warm, tender, feelings alone won't necessarily save someone in peril - whether it's from wrong thoughts, motivations, actions, inaction, or speech. At times, Love does the hard things in the right way in order to correct those that He loves - even though the greatest Lover of those who love Him feels their discomfort as well. We can stand by and watch those that we "love" and have a responsibility for, heading toward their doom while having warm feelings for them, or we can truly love them while there's time to rightly correct their course. So many times, true love requires action because love is more than something we have ... it's something we live - even when it's uncomfortable, ... because love is truly a "verb".
In Scripture...
"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 (NKJ)
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it." Deuteronomy 10:12-14 (NKJ)
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