God Loves His Daughters!

Yesterday, a brother in Christ looked at my friend and me and said, "God loves His daughters." Then he said, "Women really need that reminder."

His words rolled around in my mind the rest of the day and the more I thought about them, the more I appreciated his willingness to say what He felt the Lord wanted us to hear. He's right, women really need that reminder, and they need it often.

Earlier that morning, I read a passage from Isaiah, that suddenly spoke to me in a whole new way. 

"You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. No longer will they call you Deserted or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married. As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you." Isaiah 62:3-5

What a beautiful reminder of how God views his children. For those of us who have been deserted or forsaken, this passage says we will be no longer be called that, instead we will be called Hephizibah. According to the New International Commentary that word means, "My delight is in her." The passage also uses the word Beulah, meaning, "to possess or claim." 

Its so comforting to know that no matter what we've been through, what we've done, how others view us, or how we view ourselves, God's Word says that He claims us, allowing us to be made complete and whole. His delight is in us and we are His bride. Not only that, but God rejoices over us! 

As I learned all of this I thought, "If the Lord does not view me as deserted or forsaken, if He claims me as His bride and delights in me, then its time for me to change the way I view myself!

A quote from the New International Commentary stuck out to me says, "When circumstances and failure and blighted hopes combine to convince us that our name is forsaken; that is the hour to hear the whisper of the Bridegroom to his Bride, with the name that is His alone to give and hers alone to hear."

If you're like me, and most other women, you probably need to be reminded that God loves His daughters. When others forsake us, hurt us, or cause us to question our value, I pray that we will remember what God calls us! In His eyes we are delightful and He values us enough to call His own! 

We are the daughters of the Most High God but we are also His bride that He rejoices in. He loves us with a father's love and with the love of husband who is enthralled with his bride. May we live in that truth and remind one another often that God loves His daughters!

-Tori