Drawn to Him

Jeremiah 31:3 “The LORD appeared to us in the past saying ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have drawn you with loving-kindness’”

 I had read that scripture many times, but in January 2010 the Holy Spirit brought it back to me and opened it up in a new way that gave me hope in a very difficult time in my life.  He opened up the word "draw" for me, unveiling it like a beautiful treasure that He framed in the context of His everlasting love and His loving-kindness.  The actual word in Hebrew is "masak", and in its general definition, it means to drag or extend, but He wanted me to go deeper and what I discovered changed me, delighted me as He showed me yet another dimension of His love. 

Draw; to gather up with gentleness and tenderness and hold close, like a small child scared in the dark, a loving parent will gather her up, tenderly hold her close and speak soothing words to calm and comfort.  Can you picture Papa God doing that with you? That’s what He said, just there in Jeremiah 31:3. 

But, it gets better, draw can also mean to pull along, to cause to move forward by a force applied in advance of the thing.  As only God can do in His everlasting love, as He knows our end from our beginning, He will apply the force in advance to move us forward.  He does not make it up as He goes along, He does not push, He in His love knows you so intimately, that He does in advance just exactly what you need to move forward, more and more into His love.

When we get in too deep and the waters and the enemy threatens to overtake our whole life, He will draw us out of the deep waters, He will pull us up, up above our circumstance, onto the solid Rock, the     Foundation we have in Christ Jesus.

This is a good one, to draw can mean to bring by compulsion.  Ever feel Him draw you to Him even though you were kicking and screaming?  Even if it was away from the edge of the cliff or from the trap of the enemy?  I’ve watched Him to that.  I’ve watched Him patiently and firmly pull one of His children, kicking and screaming from the jaws of the enemy who was just about to devour and destroy one of His precious children. 

And in contrast, I’ve seen the LORD move slowly, extend gradually, draw one of His own with consummate love and tenderness back into His will, His path.  There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.   He will go to great length to draw us back to Him, to win us, to attract us, to invite us to come near. 

Then just as the sail of a sail boat will draw the Wind…… To be filled with the Wind so it can advance on, He will fill us with the fullness of the Holy Spirit, enabling us to move forward. Does He not tell us He will  take us from glory to glory?

In the depth of this simple word, I found no trace of a God Who tolerates me, puts up with me, or looks at me as an obligation, I see an amazing love that spans time, past, future and current.  I see a Papa God who is always for me, Who will never let go and is not far away. 

I challenge you to take a step back and ask Him, how has He drawn you?  Then let Him show you how He draws His precious child who He loves with an everlasting love.