ODJ: the wide arms of love
April 16, 2011
I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock (v.16
READ: Psalm 81:8-16
Donna Simpson weighs 600 pounds, but she’s working on gaining another 400. Intending to become the heaviest woman alive, Donna commenced a public campaign to market her intentions. She intends to eat healthy, but she plans to eat a lot. In her words, she eats “massive quantities of healthy food,” including more than 70 pieces of sushi and 20 chicken wraps in single meals. While Donna’s appetite captures headlines, other personal details appear to also be at play. Journalist Karine Ioffee writes that Simpson admits “she is as hungry for attention as for calorie-rich food.”
Whatever Simpson’s motivations and whatever one thinks of her choices, we all crave love and attention—and we work our own angles in attempting to secure them. The psalmist reiterated over and over again how vast and limitless God’s love was for His people. Repeatedly, the Psalms reminded Israel of God’s kindness, mercy, and protection. They retold the story of how God had “rescued [Israel] from the land of Egypt” and how, if Israel would simply obey God and receive His love, God would “fill [them] with good things” (81:10).
“But no,” says the psalmist, “[God’s] people wouldn’t listen. Israel did not want [Him] around” (v.11). Isn’t it interesting that we spurn the very One who loves us most deeply? Often, we keep at arm’s length the only One who has the capacity to fill our deepest longings and cravings.
The psalm speaks of God’s intent to feed and satisfy us (v.16). He desires to love us in the places where we’re most deprived of love, and He wants to satisfy our deepest longings—our longings for Him. But God will not force Himself upon us. We have to open ourselves to Him. We have to walk into the wide arms of His love. —Winn Collier
What longing do you most want God to meet? What would keep you from simply receiving God’s care and provision for you?
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