"Affection"

The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.  - Deuteronomy 7:7 (NIV)

When I read this verse the other day, I recalled a great old hymn from my childhood by Robert Harkness:

Such love, such wondrous love!
Such love, such wondrous love!
That God should love a sinner such as I,
how wonderful is love like this!

I have to say, those exclamation points say quite a bit.  After all, should we not be excited to be loved by God?  Should we not be excited to know our Creatore loves us so?  Absolutely, we should be excited!  There are many different "voices" that bring an equally number of emotions into our lives.  One of the greatest voices that elicits the grandest of all emotion, is the one that conveys love and acceptance.  To know one is loved is perhaps the greatest feeling of them all.  A spouse, child, or close friend has a way of calming the storms in our lives by their declarations of love and support.

In the book of Deuteronomy, Israel stands on the brink of Canaan.  Moses, restricted from going with them, encourages them through a series of sermons.  And encourage them he does!  The nations may be larger and stronger (7:2), but God is on the side of Israel!  The Israelites are "holy to the Lord," "chosen," and a "treasured possession" (v. 6).  All Israel had to do was follow in the laws and decrees of  God. 

Yet here is the intersting part: God loved them.  That's right.  God, the Creator of all things, loved Israel.  Through good times and bad, He loved them; through obedience and disobedience, He loved them; through acceptance and rejection, He loved them.   It was not because the were the largest, they were not.  It was not because they had a lot to offer, they did not.  It was not because they had abundant wealth or resources, they did not.  But he loved them!  Not only that, but God had "set his affection" on them (v. 7).  

"Affection", or khaw- shak in Hebrew, here means "delight, love, attached to.  Is this not an amazing concept?  God delighted himself with Israel.  He attached himself to them.  Throughout their journeys, this reminder would always be with them.  Through the victory of Jericho and the defeat at Ai, God loved them.  As a nation and in exile, God loved them.  His greatest act of love would be shown on a rocky hill called Golgotha many years later.  Jesus' death heralded, yet again, the reminder that God, through it all, loved them.

Did you know that God has "set his affection" upon you?  Not because you were good enough, not because you have a lot to offer, not because you are wealthy, not because you are wise, and not because you have it all together.  No, he loves you, because that is who he is.  So when your world crashes in, breaks your heart, disappoints, insults, maligns, and hurts you, remember that God loves you.  He always has; he always will.  A rocky hill called Golgotha reminds us of that fact.

"How wonderful is love like this!"