To understand the heart of God, it may be helpful to understand the heart of a grandmother. In some ways, she has the heart of a child. Recently my grandson came for a “sleep over”. He said, “Can Papa get my lovies out of the car?” “What are your lovies?” I asked, though I was pretty sure I knew the shape and size and fabric of what was tucked inside a backpack. “They are my stuffed animals.” Note that for this particular grandson, the love is plural. He sleeps with as many stuffed animals as he can put his arms around. In the middle of the night he woke me up so that we could find his pig. He had his other animals, but he had lost track of his pig and was not going to go to sleep again until the pig was rescued. That’s the way it is with grandmothers as well. We prefer to have all our human lovies gathered together in one place.
Apparently that is the way it is with God. “In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it” (Isaiah 2:2). And of course there is the parable of the lost sheep. The Shepherd is not going to go to sleep until that one lamb has been rescued (Luke 15).
May God rescue each of your lovies and gather you in sleepy celebration!
