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Thursday, February 11, 2016

return, thrusday

Thursday, February 11

Opening Prayer: O God, Lover of our souls, forgive us when we turn away and chase after people and things that were never intended to fully satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts.  Forgive us, O Lord, and bring us back once again to your arms of mercy and affection.  Amen. 

Scripture: Hosea 2:1-19

Journal: What other lovers do you chase after rather than God?  How is that working for you?

Reflection:
 
     Hosea 2 is such a challenging, convicting, and passionately tender chapter.  It calls me to recognize the ways I have left the Lover of My Soul, and have chased after lovers that can never even begin to satisfy the deepest longings of my heart.  It calls me to name them: affirmation, success, achievement, significance, security, recognition, esteem—and on and on and on.  And it invites me to recognize them and call them the cheap hookers that they really are.  It urges me to repent, to turn, to stop chasing after these sorry substitutes and turn back to the One who knows me like no other and loves me like no other.  It asks me to leave their flimsy, glittering arms and return the arms of him who can hold me like no other, who made me uniquely and wonderfully for deep intimacy with himself.  It forces me to answer the question, "Are you chasing lovers, or are you chasing me?"

Prayer

Closing Prayer: O Lord, my God, what false lovers do I continually chase after for my food and my water; for my security and my significance; for my value and my worth; for affirmation and identity?  Help me to recognize the fact that when I chase after these lovers, I have left you, my One True Love.  Allure me now, O Lover-God, betroth me to yourself.  Ravish me with your passionate love and capture my heart completely.  Make it wholly yours, that I may chase only after you all the days of my life.  Amen.  

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