Ecstasy

Ecstasy

The LORD will take delight in you.

Isaiah 62:4

IN WORD Picture a young man and woman on their wedding night. For years, they have loved each other and longed for the consummation of their relationship, and now their longing is fulfilled. The sheer delight of togetherness—of knowing they will be in each other’s arms for the rest of their lives—is overwhelming. There is no better feeling than that.

That’s how the bridal imagery in the prophetic books describes God’s love for us. We may have a hard time believing that—for centuries, people have seen God as a hard taskmaster or cosmic cop, bent on indicting His people—but the Groom’s love is a thoroughly biblical picture. The only thing missing in Scripture is the bride’s passionate love for her husband. Sometimes it’s there, though often it isn’t. But it’s always encouraged. God always welcomes the fervent love of His people. We are never told to maintain emotional distance from Him.

The tragedy of many Christians’ lives is an unbalanced marriage. Many of us are living in a relationship where the Groom is madly in love and the bride is ambivalent. That makes for an awkward marriage—awkward worship, awkward prayers, and awkward service. The tragedy is that it doesn’t have to be that way. If we really understand the heart of the Lover, being the beloved becomes a lot more natural.

IN DEED Is your relationship with God living up to the image of the Husband who rejoices over His bride? The intimacy and ecstasy of wedded bliss is God’s design. He gave us that human relationship as a picture of the divine. All our dreams of falling in love and being satisfied in intimacy with another are there for a reason. God wove them into our design for Himself.

Don’t let that design go unfulfilled. If you are casual about the God who delights in you, seek a balanced relationship. God has made the first move; there’s no chance of your love being rejected. Let your passion for Him run as wild as His passion for you.

There is nothing sweeter to the Bridegroom or the bride than hallowed and unhindered communion.

—HUDSON TAYLOR