Another Reality

Jeremiah 31:3-4

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 will build you up again
and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel.

Again you will take up your tambourines
and go out to dance with the joyful."

In Jeremiah 31:3-4, you can almost hear the tenderness in the Lord's voice as he speaks to Israel. But something about this Scripture is especially gentle and touching, and it is the name by which God calls his people...O Virgin Israel.

Before the book of Jeremiah was even scripted, another story was written in the book of Hosea. In that story, God asks Hosea to marry a prostitute. After he married her and had children with her, she ran away and went back into prostitution. In his faithfulness, Hosea bought her back and loved her still. The story is an allegory of how God was faithful to Israel even they chased afters other loves. Again and again, they gave their hearts away to lesser gods, but again and again, God bought them back and brought them into his arms again.

In Hosea, Israel is basically compared to a prostitute. Actually many times throughout the Old Testament, Israel is called a prostitute...and rightly so, because that is what she was. But later in the middle of Jeremiah, God calls the Isrealite people by a new name. He calls them virgin.

Romans 4:17 says describes God as "the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were."

God has such a radically different perspective than we do. Our vision is limited; His is infinite. We see the here and now while he sees the big picture. When all we can see are the tick marks, he sees the whole timeline from start to finish. His perspective is so above and beyond ours that he has an entirely different reality. A higher reality. A greater reality. A true reality.
 
For in our reality, it is impossible for a prostitute to become a virgin again. But not in God's reality. He calls things that are not as though they were. When he looked at Israel, he saw a spotless bride without blemish. He saw a beautiful daughter, a redeemed child.

What is so amazing is this: God gives us his vision, which then enables us to see things from his reality instead of our own. It is not a glimpse, but a full steady gaze through the eyesight of the Lord.

That means that when we look at our circumstances, we can see a higher reality. We begin to see clarity instead of confusion. We begin to see hope in the midst of disaster. Glimmers of light break into our places of darkness, and beams of delight shine into pits of despair.

That means that when we look at ourselves, we can see a higher reality. We begin to see beauty instead of brokenness and beauty instead of ashes. We see a virgin instead of a prostitute. We see worth and value because that is what God sees when he looks at us.

That means that when we look at the people around us, we can see a higher reality. The people that used to make us bitter now make us blessed. Instead of drawing out anger, they bring forth compassion. In place of jealousy, we live in love. We start to see people the way God sees them, and we see that they are lost and hurting, yet precious and immeasurably valuable...just as we are.

Yes, God's reality is so radically different from our own. Yet he gives us the ability to embrace it - to catch his vision - which will dramatically change the way we view everything.

I don't pray for a glimpse, but a long steady gaze with the vision of our Lord. I long to see past my limited perspective and into his true reality.

Take a moment and be silent before the Lord, asking him to give you a clear picture of His reality. Let him open your eyes so that you can see yourself the way he sees you. Let him broaden your perspective so that you can see your circumstances the way he sees them. Let him give you His eyesight so that you can see the people around you in the same way he sees them.

Let the fog roll away to reveal a vastly greater perspective, a totally new reality.

A special thank you to Anna Strock for so quietly listening to God's voice and then sharing His heart with us. The thoughts from this post are the result of her hearing and relaying God's truth to me.