Chosen

"He rescued me because he delighted in me." -2 Samuel 22:20b

I have never doubted my parents' unconditional love for me. That's a huge statement about their faithfulness and amazing parenting skills. But I haven't always fully appreciated that.

As a teenager, I remember thinking, "Of course they love me - they have to - they're my parents." At a deep level, their love grounded me. At a superficial level, I totally took it for granted.

Then one day, my mother figured this out. She sat me down and told me how much she enjoyed being with me. That she would have wanted to be my friend even if we weren't related. That she liked me.

I shouldn't have needed to hear that. This truth was implied everyday by her attitude and actions. But I can't tell you how much it surprised me. She knew me so well. Better than anyone. She saw my flaws. She was one of the few people who could tell me when I needed correction. And I treated her worse than some strangers. Maybe she had to love me, but how could she still like me?

In Bible study on Tuesday, we talked about how God knows us intimately, and I felt that same adolescent bristling that I used to feel with my mother. Of course he knows me. He's God. He knows everything.

Then our small group leader reminded me that He would do anything to be with me. That he did everything to be with me. That he loves and delights in me.

Suddenly I was sixteen again, scorning love as if it were easy, automatic. Forgetting its cost and the value it implies. God knows me. He loves me. He chose me. And he wants to be with me. It goes against my grain to hear it, to think it. Some rebellious pride says it's not true, or if it is, it's somehow not enough. Even though he's shown me the opposite over and over and over and over again.

How is it that 25 years after becoming a Christian--through 25 years of experiencing his faithfulness--I still forget?

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." -Romans 5:8

"The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." -Zephaniah 3:17

"If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us?...I'm absolutely convinced that nothing--nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable--absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love..." -Romans 8:32, 38-39, The Message

"He rescued me because he delighted in me." -2 Samuel 22:20b