Life. Is. Good.
I’m laying on a hammock by Caddo Lake. There’s a cool breeze. The crickets and God-knows-what-else are playing a nature’s original set.
Yes, it’s 4:45 am and my feet have more mosquito bites than I’ve had in the last year, and now I can’t sleep, but, I’ll say it again, Life is Good. And, God is Good.
It’s not a time of great “wins” for me. There’s been a lot of work, long tired days, plans and preparation for new growth, and rebuilding of core relationships. But I’d argue that it is because of this hard work, and not despite it, that when there is time to rest and reflect, I see God’s glory, generosity, and goodness all the more clearly.
I read the below passage from Hosea recently as part of our Bible on a Year podcast and it was piercingly touching.
God marries His people, as a bride in her youth, and loves and desires her even when she repeatedly turns to other lovers. He laments her lack of clarity, her thinking the good in her life comes from these lovers. But He doesn’t get angry, or try to annul the relationship or eliminate her (thank goodness for that promise to Noah).
He stages an intervention, takes her to the wilderness, and speaks “tenderly” to her, giving her gifts. He gives her the choice to return to Him!
Praise God that He pursues me despite my desires to stray from focus on Him!
And so my prayer is to always be satisfied (yes hum it to the tune of the Hamilton song) because to be satisfied in Him is to seek no God but Him, to seek no source of happiness other than Him, to Love the Eternal Love who betroths me in “steadfast love and mercy” and gives me the grace to be faithful!
Hosea 2:14–20 (RSVCE):
Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards,
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And in that day, says the Lord, you will call me, ‘My husband,’ and no longer will you call me, ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more. 18
And I will make for you a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety.
19 And I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord.