Terah Lites

Love. One word in English but it has more meanings than we know what to do with. We love our food, the weather, our friends and family, and even our shoes. But do we really stop and take time to think about what we are saying or feeling? This is what hit me in that Beth Moore Bible study one night. I know I love God. I have loved Him for as long as I can remember. But am I “in love” with Him? As I rolled this around in my mind a little, it began to unsettle me. Had I been missing the point this whole time? The God of the universe that I say that I love…do I even know the half of it?

The weekend following that study time we had a time away and as I sat on the wrap-around porch at our cousin’s house, under the oak trees and Spanish moss, holding my cup of tea, I began to look into the Word of God to learn a little more about what it means to be “in love.” Do you know that the very first reference I found was a reference between us and God?

“And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you
but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him,
to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Deuteronomy 10:12

I can’t wait to show you this next part.

I love to dig into the meaning of the words. The Hebrew word used here for love is “ahav.” Look at what it means:

• To desire, to breathe after anything
• One who is loving and beloved, intimate; different than a companion
• To delight in anything; in doing anything

Don’t you love that!? Do you know what it means to breathe after something or someone?

To breathe after: to seek with eagerness to attain to; long or try to reach; attempt.

What if the next time I sat down with God I did it with the attitude of seeking with eagerness to attain to Him? What if I treated Him as my beloved and not simply a companion that is handy when I need Him. What if I truly delight in Him and long for what He wants to say to me? Well, I will tell you. I have started approaching God in this way and I cannot express to you the richness that comes from my time with Him. I feel like I have opened my eyes for the very first time. I am seeing myself through the eyes of Jesus and it calms me. His love is bringing creativity to life in my heart in new ways. I didn’t realize it was all a package deal until I went back and reminded myself of that day I learned that I was made to be in love with God. You see, there is more to that word…

There is a whole other aspect of that word “love” that I did not even tell you yet. Chaldee is an Aramaic language that was also used in the Old Testament. Do you know what the Chaldee root says about this word?

• to produce fruit, especially the first and early fruit; to produce flowers.
• putting forth, shooting forth
• Having the sense of desire, eager pursuit of an object

Can you see how it all comes together? As we look for intimacy with God the dry places of our soul will come alive! He will show you things you never saw before. Your relationship with Him will be in full color, like a field of wild flowers, instead of black and white. And the best part? The more you practice this, practice intimacy with Him, the more you will find yourself desiring it. You will find yourself in eager pursuit of a God who has loved you from the beginning of time and who has been waiting to show you just how deep His love for you goes.