Within the last few days, I have been reading out of Isaiah 62-64. Reading through these passages, I am overcome with awe at God's mercy. The following is one selection that stood out to me:
"You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." 62:3-5
I love this image of God claiming us as a jewel in His crown, a precious diadem in His very hand. And I love the idea that He delights in us. He actually comes to us as a young man on his wedding day, thrilled to be with us, to make us his own, to unite with us. And the opposing image of one Forsaken and Desolate - to this one who feels rejected and alone, He says that she has a new name - "You shall be called The Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord...You shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken." (62:12)
Sought Out is the name I most identify with, the name I most want to own. I think it is what I feel the lack of most. Being sought out is such an incredible feeling. As a woman, it is what you most desire from a man. You do not want to have to chase him down and remind him you are there. You want to be chased, Sought Out. And yet, so often in our broken world, we are more accustomed to Abandonment. We are Discarded. We are Forgotten.
And here Jesus comes saying, "My people, I have given you a new name. By your very identity, you are Sought Out. And this doesn't end when I marry you. You are always going to be Sought Out by me. When all your other lovers have lost interest, I will always find you in the dark places you try to hide. You will forever be Sought Out because that is the definition of our relationship. I saw you when all you could see was your own sin and your cheap loves toying with your affections. I delighted in you even before you knew even a fraction of my nature, of who I AM."
And yet, in contrast to this beautiful chase of God after His people, throughout these passages there rises a plea for mercy from the people of God. Why this plea for mercy? Because the people of God - the ones called Sought Out - have continuously turned away from Him. And now they beg for mercy. And I see myself all through these passages, pitiful and pleading for help when I was the one who ran away and got myself into this mess.
"He became their Savior. In all their affliction, he was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old." (63:8-9)
"But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them." (63:10)
I love their prayer in 63:15-64:12. They recount the goodness of God and His past mercy, and they continue to ask where He has gone, how He could keep silent, why He is angry. I think if I were God, I would have responded with, "I gave everything for you once. And not just once. We've been through this a few times, and frankly I'm tired of you calling on me to be gracious to you for my name's sake. You are the one who has disgraced my name, and I do not need you in order for my glory to be known among the nations. You act as if I'm the hard-hearted one when you're the one who was so quick to rebel and leave a God "who put in the midst of you His Holy Spirit, who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before you to make for himself an everlasting name, who led you through the depths...and gave you rest." (63:11-14) You're wondering how I can restrain myself and keep silent as you suffer in the pit you dug for yourself? I'm wondering why on earth I would have any desire to rescue and even listen to such a faithless, stupid people."
Thankfully, this is not God's response. Instead He says, "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say, 'Do not destroy it, for there is blessing in it,' so I will do for my servants' sake, and not destroy them all" (65:8).
Do we grasp how unfathomable is the mercy of God? How unreasonable? Who is this God who we frequently abandon or squeeze into a small portion of our day? - A God who "did awesome things that we did not look for; you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you who acts for those who wait for him" (64:3-4).
A God who responds to our prayer of "You were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?" with "Yes, yes you shall be saved," who says to the Discarded, "Wait, save it. There is a blessing in it. I can make something new out of this trash."
We are all the work of His merciful hands (64:8). We are all Sought Out. And not just once. Not only when we are radiant from being in His presence. We are also Sought Out when we are dressed in polluted garments, melting in the clutch of sin, (64:6-7) and stretching out our hands to those who do not want us.
