Becoming Loving - Part 3

Focus Scripture

Isaiah 49 : 13-19 (NRSV)

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the LORD has comforted his people,
and will have compassion on his suffering ones.

But Zion said, ‘The LORD has forsaken me,
my Lord has forgotten me.’
Can a woman forget her nursing-child,
or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
Your builders outdo your destroyers,*
and those who laid you waste go away from you.
Lift up your eyes all around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
As I live, says the LORD,
you shall put all of them on like an ornament,
and like a bride you shall bind them on.

Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land -
surely now you will be too crowded for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

Daily Byte

God’s people were in ruin - their country conquered, their Temple destroyed, and their people carried away into exile. No wonder they were tempted to believe that God had abandoned them. But, God speaks into their grief and suffering and offers them the image of a mother lovingly nursing the child she has born, protective and unfailing in her love. And, though sometimes mothers fail their children, God assures the people that God’s love is sure - their names have been engraved, cut into the flesh, of God’s hands. They are part of God’s very being. This is a radical love, an excessive, unreasonable love. This love is offered to all of God’s children, including you and me. No matter what you may be going through at the moment, God’s love is right there with you.

Reflect for a moment in silence on these images of God’s love for you. Allow your knowledge of being loved to settle into the deepest parts of your soul. Can you feel anything shift inside you? Do you find yourself relaxing and growing softer, less brittle or stressed? This is what love can do. Now think about the fact that everyone - everyone - is loved like this by God. How does that change the way you see other people, especially those you struggle to love? As you prepare to join your community in worship this week, allow God’s love to come to you and try to lean into it - not just for you, but also for all those who are part of your life.

Pray As You Go

It’s more than I can take in, God,
this palm-engraving love of yours,
this extravagant commitment you have
to the likes of me.

But, thank you for your love,
and for your determination
that I should know it.
I realise that the only way I will ever know
if your love has really taken root in my heart,
is when I can be committed to loving,
even the unlovely,
in at least a little of the way
that you love me.

Amen.

Today’s devotion is taken from Rev John van de Laar’s outstanding book ‘The Hour That Changes Everything: How worship forms us into the people God wants us to be.’ Used with permission

To order copies of this book and for other superb worship resources visit http://www.sacredise.com