“But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there…I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion.” (Hosea 1:14-19 NLT)
Our hearts will be tested in the seasons of life, the relationships that we are in, and even our relationship with the Lord. The verses above are a beautiful representation of who God is and how much He desires to conquer our hearts.
God established a covenant with us; He calls us His bride, His wife, His lover. The Bible gives an intricate image of how He places us like a seal over His heart because love is stronger than death, flashing like a fire which many waters cannot quench (Songs 8:6-7).
his is absolutely breathtaking. It speaks of love, passion, acceptance, and commitment. What it speaks of, is intimacy.
Our intimacy with God is expressed through worship. Whether it’s a song we sing or the way we live, it involves our whole heart. Worship is the process God uses to comfort, assure, and even heal us. It’s the way in which God teaches us to rely on Him, allowing Him to fight our battles and carry our burdens. But what happens when we eliminate intimacy from the picture? What happens when the heart grows cold and the flame of worship dies?
What happens is…we need to learn how to love again and worship once more. We need to receive love so that we in turn can give love. This may require going through a desert until we can restore the beauty of what was lost all because WE had walked away.
Sometimes we negate the very thing that has the power to heal our broken hearts. We reject intimacy because we’re afraid of being hurt…even knowing that God was never the one to hurt us in the first place. We can hear God’s voice, read His Word, answer His call, and submit to His will for our lives yet with a disconnect at the heart level.
It’s possible to have communication yet no intimacy, submission out of a sense of loyal duty yet not as a loving response. There can be the knowledge that someone is with us, yet the feeling of complete isolation, causing us to dread facing another day “alone”. I’ve never been married but I do understand that lack of intimacy is what kills marriages. And I now understand that when our heart is tested, OUR response determines whether our relationship with God suffers or is strengthened.
God is always pursuing us with perfect love. He desires relationship, honesty, intimacy but WE determine the extent to which we open up to Him. He will always be trying to conquer our hearts but the question is if we are willing to surrender our fears and take the step to learn to LOVE… again.
