Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places

Isaiah 49:14-16 ~

"But Zion said, 'The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.' Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me."

It is hard to find true love in this world.  We long for someone to say, “I love you.”  We desire for someone to love us unconditionally.  Yet, for most of us, there are so many lies ringing through our heads saying, “You are not good enough.”  “You are not smart enough.”  “You are worthless.”  “You are not wanted.”  “You are not loved.”

 

Do you ever feel this way?  Alone?  Unimportant?  Unaccepted and unloved?  Are you, as the song says, “Looking for love in all the wrong places?”  “Looking for love in too many faces?

 

No one person will fulfill this need for love in our lives.  People are sinful.  They fail.  They let us down, and they cannot give us what we need 100% of the time. 

 

There is only one who can do this and that is the Lord.  The Lord of the heavens loves each of you.  He created you and lovingly molded you.  He alone is sufficient for all your needs.  People will disappoint you, but God never will.

 

I love the picture of God engraving our name on His hands. We are ever in His thoughts and He knows us intimately and cares about everything we go through. He knows our struggles and we can depend on Him even when we have no one else to depend on. He cares about every aspect of our lives, and we are worth something in His eyes.   We are wanted, accepted, worthy and precious in His sight.

 

Throughout history God continually desired to have a relationship with man.  Time and again, He reached out to His ultimate creation.  Yet, man continuously turned from God and looked for love in all the wrong places and looked for love in too many faces.  Finally, because He loved us so much, He came down to earth and dwelt among us to show us love in human form.

 

At Christmas, we picture Jesus as a baby.  However, this is a very small part of the story.  He grew from a baby to a man.  He ministered to others, spent 33 years of His life with us and finally, was hung on a cross.  As He was placed on that tree, His arms were spread wide in a symbolic embrace of the world for which He was dying.

 

If you look closely, you can see your name engraved on His hands in the form of nail prints.