“I have forsaken My house, I have left My heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.” Jeremiah 12:7

Dearly Beloved, Part 1

Walk His Way Revisited

God did two really big favors for me last night and this morning. First, He gave me a deeper glimpse into His character, and it made me love Him even more than I already did. And second, He redeemed a painful event from my past, one that I hadn’t yet made sense of.

Last night I felt a tug to read Scripture before going to bed. I had nothing in particular on my mind that I wanted to read, so I asked God to lead me to a passage He had for me. You know how it is: my Bible just “fell open” to a certain place. I began to read where my eyes rested: Jeremiah 12:7 (above). I have no doubt the Lord had a specific word for me at that moment, because by the Holy Spirit’s interpretation to me, the meaning of the verse was crystal clear.

I was being given a glimpse into God’s great love for His people, Israel. I have never understood the depth, yearning, and jealousy of His love, but in that moment I did. He called His people “the dearly beloved of My soul.” My chest felt tight as I considered a love so all-encompassing. I fell asleep with the sure conviction that He loves me just as much as He loves Israel.

Then the verse says He gave these dearly beloveds of His soul into the hand of her enemies. This is what brought forth the thoughts this morning of a time I felt that exact pain, a pain I thought I would never recover from. I, too, was called upon to let go of someone exquisitely dear to me, someone I had poured my life into for many years, someone I would have given my life for.

It was my son who was leaving his young wife and heading off with some new friends across the country. They had no money, and drove the entire distance in my son’s car, with him buying the gas and paying for repairs along the way. They had no money for food and thus did not eat.

When someone is bent on making his own way, even when it is clear to everyone else what a terrible end it will have, even when the rest of us know it is not God’s will, and this was never meant to be, there isn’t anything you can do. Someone—everyone—is going to get hurt.

I always knew He had some plan for this horrific pain and separation. I’ve been waiting years for Him to show me! Tomorrow I will finish this story, and tell you what God spoke to me through this verse.

If you are experiencing something similar, be comforted today by verse 15 of the same chapter: “Then it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have compassion on them and bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land.” I didn’t know this Scripture back then, but if I had, I would have hung onto it like a life buoy thrown to a dying man.

Father, no experience is wasted. Thank You for the lessons, yes, even for the pain, because now I know more of Your great love for Your people.