“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul…”  (Deuteronomy 10:12)

Do you ever wonder why God puts up with us?  Through the years people have made a habit of disappointing Him.  In truth, failure is our great art.  It is truly the only thing in which we excel.  It doesn’t matter if we are talking about the unfaithful Israelites and their thousand-year flirtation with idolatry, or our own individual struggles with sin- our species is constantly breaking God’s heart.

So why does He endure our disloyalty?  Because He loves us?  There can be no doubt.  But what else?  Deuteronomy 10 seems to indicate a different answer.  Not only does He love us, but He yearns for us to love Him in return.  He wants us to reject the world of our own free-will and choose Him!

This changes things somewhat.  Not only does God love me (which could be simply out of a sense of obligation).  He longs for me to love Him!  He wants to hear the words from my lips.  He has pursued us.  We are the objects of His desire and our affection is the fondest wish of His divine heart.  All I can say when I begin to absorb that is… WOW.

Kerry