I made you from nothing with love in my heart
each trait in your being selected
I formed all your cells and breathed life to your lungs
placed you there in the womb I perfected
I taught you to walk, took you by your small hand
and I fed you from my fullest cupboards
the mountains are mine and the hills and the seas
and we giggled each day you discovered
I called you by name and we walked in the garden
and sweet were the words that we shared
and long were the days we explored all my wonders
with deep fellowship, unimpaired
and I fed you and you grew up satisfied
with richest food from our communal table
stomach full, your pride rose and you forgot my Name
and you fell for an ugly, dark fable
and so came that black day I returned for our time
and I found you though you tried to hide
and a part of me raged and a part of me shivered
as I looked toward the moment you died
how could you believe that mad hater, that snake
that most evil and ghastly of liars
he will rip you asunder with poison that drips
from his lips as your soul he desires
how could you believe I who formed you would crush
the free spirit that in you I placed
am I man and not God that I blow with the wind
you changed truth for the most awful waste
look back into your heart and find mine waiting there
find me holding my hand out to yours
I who formed you and led you when you were a child
waiting with patient loves that endures
come back home my dear child I have waited so long
I have waited to show you more wonders
put your hand back in mine and we’ll walk side by side
and we’ll knit everything that has sundered
I was reading in Hosea this week, specifically chapter 11, where God talks about His father’s heart for Israel, how He taught them to walk and took them by the arms. How He led them with kindness and leaned down to take the yoke from their necks.
I was reminded of teaching Joy to walk, the heft and the tenderness of the love I had for her as she toddled along, how I cradled her each time she fell hard enough to cry. I remember the feel of that little hand the very first time she grabbed my neck. The way she would reach for me.
How great, how profound, how exquisitely true is the Father’s love for us, limitless and beyond measure.
And how painful, how biting, how deep must the betrayal go each time we feed and become satisfied, each time our pride rises up and we forget His sweet Name.
Don’t miss a week!