Doves On Distant Oaks

Are We Not All Beggars?

God has shown that His love for us is an active love, a long-standing love, that draws us to Him and is unconditional—agape love. His love for His people, to Israel and the remainder of humanity, is a love that goes beyond simple concern. His comportment toward the Israelites, whom He saved from the sword of Egypt, and then gave rest in the wilderness, shows He did not abandon them. He did not abandon them then and He will not abandon us now, nor ever in the future.

Jeremiah packs all this in a single statement brimming with Gods love for us:

The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; (Jeremiah 31:3)

The literal translation of the term "of old" means "from afar," though it doesn't have a connotation of distance, rather of time. God is saying to His people of Israel that he has watched over them from the very beginning. From the timeless past extending to the furtherest stretch of the future. It arises out of a divine love that is anchored in eternity. That is the source of God’s mercy towards us.

Because it's mercy that we need. We are lost in the wilderness without God’s love for us. Mindless beggars, sorting through the scraps that life gives us, we dupe ourselves into thinking we are building a life by our own efforts. When in truth, we are aimless without His guidance, weak without His strength, broken without His provision. We know he will be there to help us because He has shown us He has through the love He has shown in the past. May we always be able to bring that to our remembrance.

When we begin to struggle. When things don’t go our way. When we begin to wonder if God is really there watching over us or has turned his back because of our sin; we only need to remember what He has done for us in our past. More, what He has done for all mankind from the beginning of time. Then we know He has been and always will be by our side ... if we would only draw near to Him and accept His help.

That’s why, even as these times in which we live are beginning to get darker, we know God has not ceased to love us. Even as we’ve witnessed Christians being executed in foreign lands and the burning of Bibles, we know that He will continue to care for us. We know that the lovingkindness He has displayed of old remains with those who are drawn to Him.

Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people, And will have mercy on His afflicted.

– Isaiah 49:13

Keywords: Caring, Kindness, Love, Mercy

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