the love that got away

Looking into his eyes she says, “I love you. You’re the love of my life.”

“I love you too, Kelly," he manages to reply. "More than you’ll ever know."

They kiss a final time, never to speak or see one another again.

If there’s a sadder moment in movie history I don’t know what it would be. The movie is “Cast Away.” After four years stranded on a desert island, Tom Hanks’ character is rescued and discovers that his fiancé, played by Helen Hunt, is married to another man.

How agonizing it must be to know they were meant to be with each other, but it would never happen. Ever.

How can somebody possibly get over something like that? Wouldn’t it haunt you all the days of your life? I’m thinking it would.

Yet imagine how God must feel since the majority of the people made in His image reject Him. More than that, many of them actually use His name as a curse word and live in out-and-out rebellion.

Despite giving them the gift of life1, despite forming them in their mothers’ wombs2, and

despite providing them with essentials such as sunlight and rain3, they reject their Creator and engage in idolatry4.

While I’m not comfortable saying their rejection “haunts” God in any way, I do believe that in some way it breaks His heart. I know that from Jesus’ reaction to the unbelieving Jews shortly before He’s crucified.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”5

Can’t you just hear the disappointment in His voice? He wants so much to gather them to His side, but they’re not willing. This is unquestionably one of the most dramatic moments in the entire New Testament.

Can you imagine how excruciating it would be to know you will never—ever—be with the love of your life?

Painful, painful, painful.

Now imagine how God must feel.

1  Acts 17:28

2  Psalm 139:13

3  Matthew 5:45

4  Romans 1:22-23

5  Matthew 23:37