Wholeheartedly

“I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.” Jeremiah 32:41

I was spinning this verse a lot in my head yesterday. I find great comfort in the fact that God doesn’t do good to the faithful because He’s obligated by some law and simply has no choice. He doesn’t do good because it’s in the terms of His covenant, but it brings Him joy and delight to do good to His people.

There are many things I like to do and if I was asked on the spot, I’d need at least 5 minutes to order my thoughts because I have a long list of things that I am passionate about. If one cares to know what God likes to do, what is He passionate about, He answers that Himself to the prophet Jeremiah: He likes to do good to His people. That’s His passion. His delight. How determined is He in that endeavour? With ALL His heart and ALL His soul. Holding nothing back.

Sometimes, when I am all despondent and bitter, after a prolonged battle with no end in sight, I begin to hear the liar in my head, "'He’s ignoring you’, ‘Does He even listen to your prayers? Do your tears mean nothing? Does your cry for help get lost on the way? Does He not care that you perish?" and many, many more darts like these aimed to crush my resolve. I’m not gonna lie, sometimes the darts find their target and I feel their poison to my very core, but that doesn’t negate all the times I raise my shield of faith and block them out. How? By reminding myself that God is not a human that He should lie or change His mind (Numbers 23:19). That in Him there is no alteration in His nature or shadow of change (James 1:17). That whatever He says with His mouth is true (Isaiah 45:23) and not just designed to give me vain hope. And if He says that He rejoices in doing good to His people, then it means that whatever I go through right now, somehow is meant for my good. I am not required to understand it or articulate the exact process because God knows I tend to call any discomfort evil and every comfort good. But I know that He is good, so good that He can’t stand the sight of evil (Habakkuk 1:13). That makes me conclude only that whatever He’s doing or allowing is ultimately going to work for my good (Romans 8:28). He delights in doing me good. True, that good sometimes hurts. But it is good, nonetheless.

I love my dog, Monty. I mean LOVE. I take care of him. Sometimes he hates my care because he can’t understand my reasons. Like when I give him a bath, you’d think I take him to the slaughter. If I trim his nails, he even limps to prove that he was truly hurt by my action. If I groom him, he acts as if I have betrayed him. When he was sick and having to wear a cone around his neck, he would sit in a corner and watch me with a squint for hours. When it was time for his medicine, my sweet and gentle beagle would growl at me, but guess what? I was determined to do him good! I give him his dinner and 5 minutes later he barks at me for a treat resorting to all sorts of tricks which as cute as they are if I were to indulge him, he’d be even fatter than he is! He might feel that I’m stingy, but I love him, and I know in the long run it harms him. My ways are not his ways. I’m sure he’d want things differently. He can’t always see love and care in my actions. It’s the same for my relationship with The Lord. His actions seem outright awful to me sometimes. But He is determined to do good for His child. Wholeheartedly. Not because He tolerates my existence, but because He loves me infinitely more than I love my dog, as hard as that is for me to imagine. 

 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9)

 by Cristina Pop