OMG!!! J divorces I !!!

The biggest love story of all time.

I'm not talking about Romeo and Juliet - come on, they were teenagers who never tried the reality of a relationship.
No, not Brad and Angelina either. They're still together. I think.
I'm talking about J and I. J is totally, completely, head-over-heels in love with I, does anything and everything for her. I honestly loves J, but has the attention span of 3 minutes and is always getting in trouble. J keeps finding -sometimes miraculous - ways to get her out of trouble. I is grateful, aaaaaaaaand then she messes up again. Big time. And J comes to her rescue, again. After all the trouble they have been through, you know that whatever I does, J will always be there for her. THEY are the real deal.

Then, today, reading J's blog, it becomes apparent that this incredible, immesurable, burning love has met a limit after all. J divorced I, and I can't believe it. We know she's cheated on him before, so what's the deal? It's right there, in J's blog, and it feels like this shlould be old news, but it only hits when it hits home.

Confused? So was I !!! Haha.

So what would Jesus do in this situation? He would explain the parable, of course.
J is our Lord, Jehova. I is not me in his case (although as we will see later it might as well be), it is Israel. 
Jehova chose the nation of Israel to be his bride. Israel couldn't really commit long-term, and they (she) kept going against the marriage agreement, seeking other gods. The Lord always took them back. So we know it was always a tough relationship, with sabbaticals in the desert and cold shoulder sessions, but a divorce? That God of unconditional love would divorce His beloved?
He did. By the way, J's Blog is of course the Bible. And I know you want to know just where in this holy Blog says that The Almighty would ever do such a thing. I'll tell you in a second.

First, I would like to say that the I from the story might as well be me. Somewhere along the way, I slipped into the "unconditional love trap". Confess, be forgiven. Regret, be forgiven. Apologize, be forgiven. How about really repent, like in my heart, making the kind of adjustment that would start on the inside, making its way out and manifest in different behavior? How about forgive and be forgiven? It's so easy to harbor anger at your lazy colleagues... (Why do I have to do their job?!). It's so easy to get swayed by worry when I have a negative balance on my bank account... Feeling justified... I have a note above my desk that says "When you worry you pray to yourself" - talk about idolatry...

It's easy to just quickly move on and in the name of avoiding wallowing in guilt and sorrow. But although God loves all people - so much he gave his only son for us (Jn 3:16), it seems that his love has ...limits? conditions?

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Mt 7:21

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Mr 16:16

Surely, he loves everyone. But that doesn't mean he'll just go soft on people who don't acknowledge Jesus, when believing in him is exactly what saves us.

So yes, I know how amazing God is (or at least in part, but enough to know what is good for me), I have agreed to commit my life to him, and yet in daily life I forget what this commitment means for specific situations. I worry. I wallow in self-righteous anger. I know I will confess and God will forgive. In this sense, J is the Lord, Jehova, and I is me. It almost becomes a way of life where J's love is taken for granted. (Although it hurts me when I's (my) love is taken for granted.)

Now I'm ready to give away the passage.

This is what the Lord says:

“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce
    with which I sent her away?
Or to which of my creditors
    did I sell you?
Because of your sins you were sold;
    because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.

Is 50:1

But if J's love for I has limits... OMG! It means that His love for me has limits?!?!

Ok, I panicked when I read this passage. I don't know about you, but suddenly my sin was much clearer to me. Also, some creative ways of repentance (Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom rang in my head).

Then, studying a little deeper, reading also other translations, I understood that it was my sins that separated me from my Love, because they were making the relationship impossible. My commitment was weak, not His. When I get myself together, and long for Him again, he will bring me out of the desert and speak softly to me. I love it already. This is what he says:

Israel, I will make you my wife forever.
    I will be honest and faithful to you.
    I will show you my love and compassion. 
I will be true to you, my wife.
    Then you will know the Lord.

Hos 2:19-20 (GW)

You know, know the Lord. I don't know about you, but something about this wedding arrangement makes sounds really exciteing, and I want to reconsider my own faithfulness. Not out of fear of divorce, but out of fear of losing sight of His love again. Love that's better than any man's, any parent's, any sister's any friend's. If I stick with Him, I will know the Lord. =)

• ____________ (<< insert your name), will you marry Jehova, the Lord of hosts, in honesty and faithfulness, so he can show you his love and compassion?
• Even if that means following His plan for yor life? Forever?
• And make him more important than marrying a human being?
• Is this idea exciting? Why?