How oft would I gather thee...

In Sunday school today we talked about the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal.  The teacher asked what the purpose of this magnificent display of God's power was.  My first thought was that it was to prove that Baal was not real and had no power and that it was God that has power, but then I realized that the real purpose was to bring the children of Israel back to God.  So often in the scriptures it talks about God's commitment to the children of Israel in a way that quite frankly baffles me.  How can God continue to love Israel this much when they continually turn away from him?  In the scriptures it says things like "How oft would i gather thee," and "Mine arm is lengthened out all the day long."  Someone in Sunday school made a comment about how much the Lord must love the children of Israel and I had to sit and think about that for a while. 

My dad has always told me that I would never know how much he loved me until I had children of my own.  Recently I was reflecting on how much delight my kids give me and how much I love them.  My dad's words came into my mind and to my surprise I immediately rejected them, thinking that that my dad could not love me this much, not with this kind of feeling.

I find I have a similar feeling about God.  (No surprise there, right?)   Sure he may love the children of Israel for some unfathomable reason.  He may be seeking after them and reaching out to them in ways large and small all throughout history.  But me?  Not me.  He couldn't love *me* like that...

Could he?

I think I have some work to do here, some examining and cleaning up of old belief systems.  And I think that I need to do a better job of likening *all* of the scriptures to myself, so that next time I read "How oft would I gather thee", I remember he means me.