Jeremiah 2:2 says:
“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:
“This is what the Lord says:
“‘I remember the devotion of your youth,
how as a bride you loved Me
and followed Me through the wilderness,
through a land not sown.”
[The NKJV says the “‘kindness of your youth.’”]
The word “kindness” can also be translated as “devotion” in Jeremiah 2:2. The Hebrew word refers to “The most intimate degree of loyalty, love, and faithfulness that can exist between two people or an individual with the Lord.”
I was so moved by this beautiful insight that I found in my study Bible that I did a little more research:
devote - late 16th century (in the sense ‘dedicate formally, consecrate’): from Latin devot- ‘consecrated’, from the verb devovere, from de- ‘formally’ + vovere ‘to vow’.
The word “devotion” is ultimately broken down to the word “vow.” There is so much power in that word. I reminds me of more powerful words. Covenant. Consecrate, which can mean “holy,” which means set apart.
There is a beautiful intimacy - or ‘devotion’ - we can have with the Lord, the Hebrew word itself says so. When we have that devotion with Him, it’s our time to be still and to know and to receive the eternal, everlasting, unfailing, undeniable, and unconditionally agape love that He has for us. He gives it to each of us, sets it apart for us, so freely, so gracefully, with such kindness and devotion. He vows to us that He will never leave nor forsake us. He made a covenant with us, and we are His bride. What a beautiful picture of youthful love and marriage that Jeremiah 2:2 paints for us: “how as a bride you loved Me and followed Me through the wilderness.”
In this intimate and active relationship we get to have with God Himself, He leads and guides us gently through the unknown, the land not sown. He whispers to us His truth and caresses us with his tender love in the stillness of the morning and anytime we seek Him and call on His name. It’s beautiful. It’s intimate. It’s His perfect love for us.
And what about us? The imperfect, flawed, unfaithful, dirty us. We have broken the vow and covenant one too many times. We treat our relationship with Him as a legal contract we feel bound to, when really all He wants from His beloved is time. Yet time and time again, we stray away. We’re silent. We don’t want to talk. We turn over in our bed, turn out the light without a ‘goodnight’ or ‘I love You.’
But He still loves us. He is good. He is devoted to us, even when we’re not. His grace and love and mercy overcomes our cold shoulders to Him. His arms are always outstretched to us. He pursues us. He sees us from a far and runs to us and embraces us before we can even finish our sentence.
So, to the beloved ones reading this:
He loves you. He wants you to know Him and His love. His death and resurrection on the cross was not so that you would come to Him, but that you might. All you need do is call out to Him.
He misses you. His grace and love never fails even when we do. He’s calling to you, “Come back to Me, My love.”
He cherishes you. He loves the time you spend with Him every day and dares you to continue dreaming with Him.
So, how do you define “devotion?” Is it just a book you read from that has an excerpt and a couple Scripture references? Is it a quick Bible reading (I know I fall into that category)? Or, is it a time where you close the door and get alone with the One Who loves you perfectly? That’s how I want it to be. And it can be that way. You can know Him today - His perfect patience and kindness, His gentle, hope-filled, and pure love that doesn’t keep record of wrong.
He is Love, and He is devoted to you.
[2.14.2019]
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