Yearning
We got an unexpected call from some old and cherished friends a couple of nights ago. It wasn’t good news. They were calling to enlist us in praying for an adult son—whom we’ve known since his birth—floundering in deep and turbulent waters by his own hand, putting himself, his young family, and his livelihood in peril.
The only apt way to describe their innermost selves in that moment wasn’t frustration or anger...it was yearning. Yearning for restoration, for healing, and for the good of their darling son.
Have you ever experienced something like that for a daughter or son? Many have, including Almighty God.
Yearning of his innermost self for his darling son is the language Jeremiah 31:20 uses to describe God’s heart for his own, floundering in deep and turbulent waters by their own hand. Not frustration. Not anger. Yearning. Yearning for restoration, yearning for healing, and yearning for his darling’s good.