A spiritual wilderness of emptiness and loneliness is the perfect place for the Lord to comfort you with the Word. Note the shift that takes place half way through this chapter, moving from the pain and grief of God as of a husband of an outrageously unfaithful wife, to the luring, seductive words of the husband calling the wife to true love and fidelity.
If you have been seeking other “spouses” for your soul, there will come a time when nothing will satisfy you and you will know it. This is wilderness. Only here can you come to know the joy of the oasis of God’s presence. You will experience for yourself the words of Augustine: “You have made us for Yourself, O God: and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
This is the second of thirteen weeks in the season of Pentecost, Year B
Mondays are dedicated to the Prophets.
During this season we read Hosea.
For the next few weeks, I’ll be posting Firestarters from the original version of The Bible Through the Seasons.
Listen, listen to the call of your very soul crying out to God. Even the heart of a person who denies the very existence of God has a God shaped emptiness in it. God is reaching out to you, even you, with love and longing. Turn around and walk into your spouse’s arms.
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“God-shaped emptiness” — That’s powerful
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