waste and hope

whew. i know i haven't blogged in a while but i've been busy! just finished reading 2 kings after starting in 1 samuel. and man, it's heartbreaking. king after king after king. failure after failure after failure. turning away from God time and again.

here's one thing that really stuck out to me today. as the babylonians were taking away the objects from the temple of God, the objects that were made with so much love and effort, i felt loss. i thought, "what a waste." these things that solomon put so much work into. these objects that adorned the Lord's temple and showed how amazing He was. simply knocked down and carried off to be used as trophies. i felt an attachment. there was a history to those pieces of the temple. and i can't help but think that this was a little bit of how God felt. pain and loss. after all the work put into His people to bless them and guide them, they ended up leaving Him and destroying themselves. only to be exiled. He loved His people. He wanted to bless them. all they had to do was keep themselves from idols. time and again He showed how faithful He was to them. only to have them adopt pagan gods.

it's like a bad relationship. you give and give and give only to have the other person cheat on you. and the other person keeps on coming back but continues to cheat again and again. you'd think that He would have given up on them. but no. He still chased after them. there's hope at the end of 2 kings. david's bloodline continues on. God had something planned.

you'd think that He would give up on us. but He didn't. He loved us. He was jealous for us. He chased after us. so much so that He sent His son to live on this earth and die a horrifying death so that we could be saved from His wrath and justice. it's amazing. but we still turn our backs on Him from time to time.

you'd think that He would give up on us! but He doesn't. He loves us. He's jealous for us. He chases after us. Jesus's blood covers everything that would disqualify us from being in relationship with God! His sacrifice washed all of that away! there is reason to rejoice! my God loves me beyond all understanding. there is hope in the name of Jesus! even after all of my wandering and turning away from God, Jesus's blood makes me white as snow and whole again! God is so good! people need to know this story. this love story is too good to pass up! =]