"lovingkindness"

Yes, the title of this blog is two words that actually form one word, which is an OT term describing the character of God. I have recently been reading through the book of Mark in which for a class requirement I am to have read the book seven complete times, which lucky for me is the shortest of the gospels. However, I am really discovering the power of reading through what was originally spoken narratives in one sitting so that no themes get disconnected from the flow of the story. Even though it is a testament of Jesus' life, the gospel of mark has sometimes been referred to as "the gospel according to Isaiah," because Markan theology is closely correlated with that of the prophet Isaiah-a great connection between OT prophecies and the fulfillment of those through Jesus Christ.

For whatever reason I decided to read Chapters 53-55 of Isaiah and once again have been amazed at Isaiah's theology and how it speaks of Jesus some several hundred years before his arrival on earth. But what this post is really about is the all-encompassing love of God, the God that cannot be put into a box, that cannot be explained by logic, the God that I claim to serve and that I know is faithful to me amidst my own unfaithfulness. In chapter 54, in reference to Israel and the coming kingdom that will be established when Jesus' fulfills the prophecies, Isaiah uses marital terms to explain how much God cares for us, for me, for you. "For you husband is your maker," we are his and he is our Lord, our redeemer, our holy one. "For the Lord has called you (us) like a wife forsaken and grived in spirit, even like a wife of one's youth when she is rejected." I'm not a great prize in my own eyes, to a most holy God I would think that any of us look pretty tarnished, yet he looks at us with great compassion. With 'everlasting lovingkindness' he will have compassion on us. Thanks be to God. Amen.

I want to embrace the all-encompassing compassion that God extends to me, amidst my social injustices, against my prejudices, against my country...so that I can call myself a child of God above all else. It is through grace alone that I can 'be called,' not call myself a child of God. That title is only to be received, not taken. Praise be to God.