God Desires

My friends poked a little fun at me this week because I bought a shirt. It turns out, everyone loves the purchase; it looks good on me, it's fun, it's a good style. No one thinks I shouldn't have bought the shirt; everyone thinks I should have bought the shirt sooner. 

See, I confessed to my friends that I've been looking at this shirt for a year. Yup. A year. Always drawn to it, always liking it, trying to convince myself to buy it. 

I've looked at this shirt, liked it, thought about it, seen it again, noticed something new, thought about that, watched for a sale, looked it up online, waited, thought, considered, dreamed.... 

To be honest, I've always shopped this way, although not necessarily to that extreme. If I'm in the market for something, or if something catches my eye, I let it just sit for awhile. I do the research. I crunch the numbers. I figure out the benefits vs. the cost. I come back and look at it again. I wonder if it's really what I want or not. I wonder if I really need it or not. I wonder if it will do for me, on all levels, what I actually think it will do for me. 

In a sense, when there is something in this world that I want - or that I'm thinking about wanting - I become obsessed with it. It takes up a lot of my mental space. 

The same is true when we enter into a new relationship with anyone or anything, right? Get a new boyfriend or girlfriend, and you become obsessed. They dominate your thoughts. You're constantly doing the math in your head. You can't stop thinking about all of the little details. All you want in the world is to take the next step, to be closer, to have that thing you're dreaming about - that relationship, that item, whatever. 

(This is also, by the way, how addictions are formed, so be careful. I mean, obviously.) 

But did you know that this is also how God thinks about us? 

Song of Solomon says that God, our lover, desires only us. (7:10) 

We're what He thinks about. We're what He dreams about. He's always doing the math in His head. He's always thinking about the details. He's always planning the next opportunity we're going to have together. He's always noticing the little things. He's always trying to tease His way into the next thing. Cheering our successes; encouraging our opportunities; mourning our failures. Wondering, waiting, watching, dreaming, desiring. 

You, my friend, live front and center in God's mind. You're all He can think about. You're all He dreams about. 

You are all He desires. 

Isn't it cool to think about how much God thinks about us?