Learning to Embrace

I am learning to embrace the One who embraced me. He loved us first. The bible tells us this in 1 John 4:19, “We love because He first loved us.”  With that love God has embraced us, despite our shortcomings, failures and flaws.  He knew all of that in advance and loved us all the more.  He will never let us go.  He will never lose sight of us.  He will always pursue us, even if we try to run or detour.  He knocked Saul off a horse as he was heading to Damascus for a plea to slay more Christians in Acts Chapter 9.  That changed the life of Saul completely. It was then that Saul felt the embrace of God.  So much so that he lives a zealous life for God and becoming one of the greatest Apostles ever known.

Embrace means to take or clasp in the arms; press to the bosom; hug; to take or receive gladly or eagerly; accept willingly; to avail oneself of; to adopt; to take in with the eye or the mind. This is how God gets a hold of us. He is so glad and eager to take us back. He willingly accepts us.  We are adopted as the word says, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”  Isn’t that such an extraordinary truth for us.   He adopted us as children by sending His Son Jesus Christ.

In all my life I think that I have tried to embrace what I could see in front of me.  I would try to grab onto things for immediate fixes.  Things I thought were beneficial for me or because I just had this notion that I had to have.  I am coming to a point in my life of a genuine maturity. A change and transformation into the new image that God predestined for me.  I am adopted as a child of God!  I have an inheritance to live an extraordinary life with an extraordinary God. He loves me so much that He has embraced me just as I am.  His hold on me does not cease. Now I am learning to hold onto God back.  For everyday that pain strikes me or I feel pangs of doubt rip through my heart, I convince myself again that God has brought me to this place.  I stand in our sanctuary on our church prayer nights moved in my soul, tears falling with no effort and an unction in the depth of my spirit where I can sense that God is holding me tightly.  Despite everything I am feeling, despite everything I am experiencing, I just cry out all the more and tell Him, “Lord, I trust You.  You are here with me I know.  I will walk with You all of my days and in the path You have for me.  I believe You will do it God, I believe You will make the natural become supernatural in my life!”

What we try to embrace in the natural is temporary.  Nothing this world has to offer will ever last, but the promises of God are eternal.  For all the names of mighty men and women are written in the Word of God for our learning. Flawed men like Saul, promiscuous women like Rahab, young murderers like Cain and old cheats like David. All filled with evil in their minds and God turned it all around.  He embraced the ones that were flawed, He embraced the ones that were damaged and broken.  He took all who were alone and lost to show them a better way.  How great is God as the word declares in Psalm 8:4, “What is man that You are so mindful of him and the son of man that You visit him?”

God will never let go of His people.  It is us that we turn away from Him.  We are the ones that let go, we give up, we fall short and we run from the One who wants to embrace us.  Even then He is waiting for us.  Now is the time for us to embrace Him back.  As the world can grow in coldness, chaos and confusion, we will need Him even more everyday.  It is time for us to learn how to take hold of a God that loves us so much.  That we cling onto Him, no matter what happens in life.  It is not easy for any one of us as humans but there is a way to get through it stronger and better than ever.  That is when we move forward embracing our Lord, when we embrace our calling and when we embrace the unknown by faith to obtain all that He has predestined for us.    We are so precious to God and in His hands we can never go wrong.