be with me

Father, I desire those You have given Me to be with Me where I am.  Then they will see My glory, which You have given Me because You loved Me before the world’s foundation. John 17:24. HCSB

This profound expression of a lover's desire! “I want them with me, I want them to see me. I want to be esteemed in their eyes. If they could see my glory, would their love not deepen, would not our hearts bond more completely?” There is such a vulnerability revealed here, almost a frailty. Jesus, his heart raw at the prospect of separation, pours out his anxieties in this prayer. “If only my beloved could truly see me! My single desire to be with her! If I could but seal her love forever with visions of my glory, would she ever stray?”

Why did God come to earth? Why was Jesus sent in the flesh? What persistent draw, what attraction, what place in his heart that could not be otherwise satisfied but in the incarnation? We often arrive at a concept of God as self-sufficient, needing no one, immense and alone, a true dispassionate sovereign. Often that image of God creeps in, insidious, blinding us to the true vulnerability of a God in pursuit.

Yet his Son, he who was the exact representation of his being, is crying out in desire! He is showing the frailty of his heart, unashamedly longing, at that moment, anything but self-sufficient, confessing his heart’s deep feeling. He has a heart swollen with desire, and a longing not within his control to fulfill. An appeal to the Father’s benevolence, the Father’s favor, “persuade her, give her to me, let her be with me where I am!”

God came as a lover; he came in pursuit. He did not come only as a sovereign. He does not present himself as one dispassionate and without feeling or need. He comes with a heart longing and vulnerable, and he does not shame himself in such. He is unabashedly in love. Pursuing a companion; rather, wooing a lover, has been his eternal journey. He wants nothing else and nothing more. Being esteemed and pursued by his beloved is and will be his eternal delight.

Beautiful Jesus, our hearts are stirred. They tremble at such intense feeling, directed at us. How can it be? We do not know, but we see it in your impassioned prayer. We see it in the unthinkable longing you have for us. We give ourselves in response in complete abandon. We give ourselves like pure nard, expensive perfume, broken and poured out in worship. Let our love, our pure and simple love, forever be satisfying to you, forever fill your desire, as you have filled ours.