Metaphors and God's Identity

  ""For he who has become your husband is your Maker...The LORD calls you back, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit." Is 54 5-6

Because it is impossible to adequately articulate who God is or how much God loves us,  the bible often uses images and metaphors to invite readers (and pray-ers) to use their imaginations in trying to understand and enter the mystery of God's presence and love. 

Today Isaiah suggests God is like our husband or wife, a remarkable attempt to draw us closer to the God who promises never to abandon us. Images like this can unnerve us, but that is not their intent. Rather, Isaiah wants to gently break down our easy, familiar categories of belief which can unwittingly lead us to take God and God's care for us for granted. When Isaiah speaks of God as our husband or wife he assures us that God is linked to us forever in a loving relationship of total commitment, even when we are in exile.  Although we might be separated for a while, God, like our wife or husband, will faithfully search for and find us no matter where we wander.

Although all of this image changing takes time, it is vital for growth in faith.  Unless we reflect deeply upon the mysteries of faith we uncover in the metaphors embedded in sacred Scripture, Christmas will pass us by like a flash of lightning, but will leave us unchanged.

Today, ask God to slow you down in order to make Advent a time of conversion and new life.

Is there a metaphor in Scripture that changed your life?