Drawn by Grace

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel.” Jeremiah 31:3.

Israel had become rebellious and turned away from God for some time. Their continued idol worshipping and sinful waywardness had separated them from their Father. One of the Hebrew translations for love in the Bible is “chesed”. This Hebrew translation speaks of a love that is “firmly rooted in God’s character. It involves loyalty, steadfastness, and covenant commitment as well as kindness, tenderness, and mercy. It is the type of love that accepts moral obligation for the welfare of the person loved. It’s a love that doesn’t depend on the response or behavior of the receiver but rather on the steadfast character and commitment of the giver. Chesed implies a mind-set and mode of interaction rooted in deep values.” Mary Kassian, Knowing God By Name, p. 39.

This definition reminds me of the love of parents as they interact with their children. Obviously, our love cannot be perfect like the Father’s but our parental love is the closest we will experience as a pattern for the father-child relationship we have with Him. When my daughter was deep in drugs I never stopped being her parent. My interaction with her was certainly affected and altered but her position in the family never changed – I would always be her mother and she would always be my child.

I love one of the definitions of “drawn” which is to take something out. It describes an action of pulling an object out of something in which it has been enclosed or embedded. We all get ourselves embedded in situations from which only God can remove us. He reaches down, scooping us up, drawing us to Himself like water from a well. The piece that follows is the best news – cleansing from our sins.

Notice at the end of the Jeremiah 31:3 He calls out to Israel as a virgin. This insinuates that as they turn back to Him they will be seen and deemed pure and forgiven. Much like the children of Israel I see my daughter as redeemed, cleansed and pure because all sin has been forgiven just as God forgives us. Our Father’s love is non-discriminatory and is not determined by our actions or responses but based on the love He has for us.

Our sins will never be greater than His love!