Stone is a lover deep down. He’s 23 and the youngest of our five kids, and he tries to cover up his secret with bravado and macho. But I know him.

As a young child, no matter how awful he got and how much awfuller I became–since I was the parent, that was my job–he always wanted to snuggle at bedtime, even if the issue between us was unresolved. He always surprised me.

I’m quick to hold a grudge over a short temper or harsh words, but not Stone. Even if the power struggle between us happened just 15 minutes prior, he’d still ask, “Mama, will you snuggle me?” when I turned out the lights. It felt like a super power.

And it was.

Turns out, this is what God is like, only he’s the Parent whose desire for relationship never stops with a fight. He keeps reaching out to willful wanderers. He always wants us back.

God is The Ultimate, Deep Down Lover.

Ezekiel 31-32

God tells Egypt that he made Assyria a Big Tree, full of branches, shade, and beauty. It towered above all the rest of the trees of the forest, piercing clouds, drinking deep from earth’s waters. “I made it beautiful, a work of art in limbs and leaves,” Ez 31:9, MSG.

But it grew proud of its majesty and became wicked, so God turned it over to a “world-famous leader to call its evil into account.” It was timbered and sawed apart, its branches littered valleys; its leaves clogged creeks. That was the end of “mighty tree nations.” God wouldn’t let any nation rise up so powerfully again after that, Ez 31:11-14 MSG.

He says the same fate awaits Egypt. It, too, is a nation of splendor and size but will be cut down like Assyria and become “a dead log stacked with all the other dead logs,” Ez 31:18.

Nearly a year after this prophecy, Ezekiel is sent to Egypt with more words of their demise. Less than a year after that, he brings still more. All told, for more than two years Egypt has direct words from God about their pomposity and detailed descriptions of how he will deal with it, (this timeline includes Ez 29-30).

Why does God bother warning pagan nations of what’s coming? Well, it’s either to gloat or to warn them.

Considering how he keeps hammering home through Ezekiel that he wants all people to know who he is and to “repent and live,” it’s safe to assume God’s purpose holds here—so they’ll turn to him while they still can. God isn’t issuing proclamations against enemy nations to throw his weight around. He’s offering them the chance to humble themselves and be saved, Ez 18:32.

Years before their final overthrow, God sent Jonah to preach against Ninevah, Assyria’s capital city, a city so wicked they stacked up human heads on either side of their city gates, they filleted their enemies. The history of their atrocities is legendary, (see Jonah at enduringword.com).

But after Jonah preached, everyone put on sackcloth, even their livestock was clothed with it, and they repented from king to pauper. God relented and didn’t bring the disaster he’d planned for them. It would be hundreds of years later before they’re taken down for good, Jonah 3.

This is who God is–the God who keeps sending out friendly invitations, the God who wants all people to turn to him, the God who points out wickedness and warnings through prophets, the God who’s deep love gives us time to get right with him.

And just in case we’re tempted to think he’s enjoying their judgment, he composes a funeral song for Egypt, he instructs others to chant it, he tells Ezekiel himself to lament their “pompous ways.” God’s not celebrating what’s coming by their choosing, Ez 32:16-18, MSG.

The God of Glory bends low to invite human beings to know him. He’s The Holy One who rubs shoulders with liars and swindlers, murderers and misfits, because this is who people really are, and these are the ones he invites to come to him. All it takes to become his beloved is turning to him (this is repentance) and being forgiven because of Jesus.

Those who think they don’t need him–the wealthy, the goody-goody, the self-righteous—get left out in the cold unless they humble themselves and repent, just like everybody else, Lk 5:32, 18:25.

This is who God’s been. This is who he still is. God doesn’t change.

Hebrews 12:18-29

When we come to God, he gives us grace through Jesus. Our experience with him isn’t the terror the Israelites felt at Mt Sinai, when the mountain shook and smoke poured out, He 12:18-21.

We get to approach him because of Jesus’ life and death. Jesus “presents us with a new covenant, a fresh charter from God.” He’s taken all the terror and judgment for sin, so we get God’s smile, He 12:22-24.

Our lives should be “brimming with worship” and our hearts overjoyed in response to him, not taking his salvation lightly, not piddling our lives away. Come to him while there’s still time, Hebrews says–one day it’ll be too late, He 12:25-28.

God doesn’t wait forever. Egypt dilly-dallied and was overthrown, as we read about today. He’s not a laid back observer. Rather, “…our God is a consuming fire,” He 12:29.

Psalm 113

All day long, all over the place, “from east to west, from dawn to dusk,” the writer says to praise, because God is “higher than anything and anyone,” yet stoops low to lift “the poor out of the dirt,” Ps 113:3-7 MSG.

He rescues those who are “thrown out with the trash” and seats them at places among honored guests, Ps 113:8 MSG.

He gives barren couples children, for goodness sake, Ps 113:9.

All gifts come from his ocean-deep love for us.

Proverbs 27:19-20

Water mirrors a face, like a face mirrors the heart.
Hell never gets enough; lust never stops.
Dissatisfaction mirrors what you most love.

Prayer

God, judgment one day must mean your invite is still on the table today. Thank you for your humility and patience. You keep offering relationship with your enemies and your kids, even when we reject you for other loves. Forgive my persistent turning away. Forgive my choosing what’s shiny and new, right in front of me. Thank you for your goodness that melts me. Thank you for never turning me away.

In Jesus’ name.

Bible passages in Ezekiel, Hebrews, Psalms, and Proverbs come from today’s selections in The One Year Bible.