Look Behind
Malachi 3:7 “…Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’” NIV
When it comes to you, Jesus never pushes or shoves. He is perfect love and according to 1 Corinthians 13:4,5 love is patient, kind and not rude. Yes, he wants you to come to him and have a daily friendship with him, but he will not force you to. What value is there when love is forced? None, because forced love is not love at all.
Instead, Jesus calls to you and I, “now return to me and I will return to you.” If he says “return”, we must have gone somewhere; turned away from him in some way.
That way might be really obvious. We make wrong choices, choosing to offend God in order to do what we want. To us, Jesus is calling, “You’ve been going the wrong for awhile. It’s time. Turn around. Come to my love and let me lead toward what is best for you.”
For others, turning away from Jesus can be as small as going a day without speaking to him; he is simply saying, “I really want to spend time with you; can you come and talk today?”
No matter which way we have turned, Jesus is patient with us. We need, though, to not take advantage of his patience and continue to make choices that offend him. Being patient doesn’t mean he’s a wimp. We need to remember that he is a powerful and holy God and all that he has done to offer us his love. He reminds us in Isaiah 44:22 “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”
My favorite place to be is early morning in the mountains. I like to wake up before the rest of my family, grab my journal and Bible and head out to the nearest porch. Often, there will be a heavy haze; so thick you can barely see past the rails. As I sit there and spend time with Jesus, I watch as the air heats up, burning away the fog. As it slowly lifts, the majesty of the mountains is revealed. It is so beautiful; it often brings tears to my eyes. Even though I have seen this transformation many many times, I am still astounded that something so incredibly breathtaking is just behind that curtain of gray.
Friend, when we are not near to Jesus, sin is that haze over us. Sin causes us to stay away from him and only look at what is directly in front of us: family, work, home, cell phones. For awhile, we may think that this is it; this is all there is so it seems pretty good. But, if we will hear the voice of the One who wants us and return to him, he will lift the fog of our sin, reveal our future and purpose in his love.
The fog of sin is just a front from the enemy to stop you from seeing his great love. Ask Jesus to burn it off to reveal his best for you.
Wow! Beautifully written and inspiring. Thank you!
This was inspriting for me as well. I find myself turning from Him when things are going smoothly. But once I need comfort, direction I turn to Him but sometimes don’t hear Him. Currently, our oldest son, who is a Sophmore in college, is home for several weeks. He is “nocturnal” and we are finding it hard to accept this way of living. He stays up till 3 or 4 am and sleeps until 2 or 3 if we allow him. I’m finding that God is silent with my pleas for guidance on how to handle our son. He complains that we don’t allow him to sleep in “just one day to get caught up on sleep”. That is hard to allow him to do that because he stays up talking to his girlfriend til 3 or 4 am. Parenting a college age, young adult is so much harder compared to toddler years. I’m praying that God will reveal my “fog” in this situation so that I can “burn it off” and be the parent that God wants me to be.
Lynn – we also have a son who is a sophomore in college so I know first hand how trying it can be when they come home; their life styles are just so much different. I have been praying a lot this past week that the Lord will help us to love as He loves – unconditionally and with a lot of grace!