He Hungers....

"Yet, the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him." Isaiah 30:18

When my daughter Kristen lived in her world of drugs I couldn't imagine why she chose to rebel against everything she knew. I knew the life we could offer her along with the love of our family. I was hungry for her to experience what blessings I knew she could receive. I craved the opportunity to lavish love on her and take her in my arms and protect her as only a parent can protect. But instead, I had to sit on the sideline and watch as I would watch a horror film.

Rebellion is a powerful drug in every aspect of life. We all have some form of rebellion in our lives that displaces God to the sidelines. The word "longs" means to crave, to ache for, to yearn for according to the Thesaurus. God has this same hunger for us to be the recipient of His divine grace and never ending compassion in our lives. The verse states that God rises to show us compassion which indicates that He, too, has been sidelined in our lives by our actions much like a second string hero. The good news is how He sits by and waits on us always yearning for, aching for and anticipating our return to Him. When we turn to God calling Him into the game and away from our rebellion He cannot rise quickly enough to scoop us up and pour His lavish love over us and our lives.

We should be careful to pursue God instead of allowing our rebellion to pursue us!