Room

"Now you will always have a room here.  Don't use it to run home every  time you have a fight but you will always have a room to visit."  I remember this as one of my mom's pre-wedding talks.  We were good friends and I know she wanted to continue with that relationship.  She also wanted to be sure that future grandchildren frequented her house!

My mom also wanted to remind me that no matter where life would take me, she would always love me and be my mother.  There would always be a room for me.

In Deuteronomy 4:21-31, God reminds the Israelites again not to worship idols.  He doesn't come right and say, "You are going to stray" but it certainly sounds like He knows they will stray.  I've read ahead and they do stray.  God knows and still loves them!

God gives them a preview of the consequences of their misplaced worship of idols who cannot see, hear, eat or smell.  They will be destroyed and scattered among the nations.  Only a few will survive. 

God also gives them hope.  God gives the promise that when they are in the mess of their own creation, if they will seek Him with all their heart and soul, they will find Him.  God promises to be merciful, to not abandon them and not to forget the covenant He made with their forefathers.

Even when God knows His people will follow cheap imitations, He promises love, mercy and restoration.  If God promises the Israelites that there will always "be a room" for them, even when they have offended Him by worshipping another, then God must be able to have room for me too.

God loves me.

God will always love me, even when I wander.

How do I know?  God has promised that if I seek Him will all my heart and soul, I will find Him.