Cycles

Have you ever noticed the back and forth motion that nature exhibits?  The revolving, renewing, self-replenishing idea can be seen everywhere in nature.  Trees start as tiny seeds, grow, shoots and leaves appear, many die, decompose, and become food for the very tree from which they fell.  The ocean sweeps shells out only to gather them up again moments later.  The ocean itself loses water to the air, to the soil, to clouds, and then is replenished by the rains  that settle over them and sprinkle the water that had been lost.  Rivers contribute water that had been part of the selfsame ocean days, weeks, months--maybe millennia before.

You can see the same idea of cycles in the Bible.  Israel, the land of promise, is born of Abraham, and immediately goes into the cycle that defines it throughout the old testament:  trust, impatience, disobedience (trying to do it without God), reminders to come back, refusal, punishment, return, trust.  Over and over it goes.  And always God sends his reminders--and nearly always they're refused.  After punishment, though, the errant child is welcomed back.

With these demonstrations of the cyclical nature of life both in Scripture and in nature, why are we surprised that we find ourselves also cycling?  I know that it is true in my own life.  I have believed since I was a young child.  I have trusted throughout my life.  Yet I cycle.  I question.  I doubt.  I wonder if there even is a God, and if so, why does he allow this suffering to happen?  But I always come back, and when I do, he is always there with open arms.  My questions are not always answered, but I always regain my trust and my sense of peace in His presence.

I think that we cycle because when we return, we are stronger.  I think (and this is my opinion) that when we roam, we see what it means to be without the Shepherd.  And friends, being without the shepherd brings such a weight--nobody to care, nobody to watch over us, nobody to help us remember that we are loved!  We live under the weight of our own fleece:  our waywardness, our disbelief in the face of God's overwhelming presence, our stubborn self will.  When we finally turn around, we realize that our shepherd has been there all along, loving us and waiting for us to turn back.  And then--the shearing!  We find that the desire to stray (for the time being, anyway) is gone, replaced by the desire to stay under the shelter of his wings.  Our disbelief is replaced by the reminder of his presence, giving us the opportunity to have our faith strengthened.  Our self will is gladly given over to the Master, whose yoke is easy and his burden light.

Thanks be to God for the cycling!  For when we leave, we return stronger.  I only pray that as we grow in faith and the knowledge of Him, we are less and less tempted to roam and more and more pleased to be his servant, his child, his love.