Wednesday, November 18, 2009

He Knows

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses..." (Heb 4:15)

This waiting is hard.  Really hard.  Adoption has been compared many times to pregnancy, an analogy that doesn't really jibe for me for many reasons: one big one is that when you are pregnant, you have your child with you.  You know where they are.  You can talk to them.  You can feel them move.

But when your child is on the other side of the world, when she is possibly a newborn wanting to be held and rocked, or an infant looking for a lullaby... and you're not there...

Tonight I was reflecting on how Jesus can relate to us in all of the suffering we feel.  I wondered specifically how this applied to the pain of waiting.  And then it came to me.  God is an adoptive Father.

"...God sent forth His Son...so that we might receive adoption as sons."  (Gal 4:4-5)

When God sees someone struggling, running from Him, and He longs to adopt this person as His son, does He feel this weight?  When God watches a person whom He made drift through his days, does He feel this urgency to be near that one, to whisper love as only a Father can?  I know the analogy is imperfect, as imperfect as any analogy that puts us near Him somehow.  But it comforts me to know that He gets this, not because He is omniscient, but because He feels it for His own children.  It also shows me anew the depth of His love for us.

1 comment:

Christopher Ryan said...

I agree! What a nice thought to meditate on, eh? We are His adopted children and He understands the pain of waiting. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!