God's Loincloth

If you've read much in the Old Testament, you know that God loves word pictures. He created those word pictures often by telling His prophets to do some very unusual things. Jeremiah chapter 13 is an excellent example, but the message that God is trying to portray is really amazing. In verse one, God tells Jeremiah to buy a new loincloth and wear it. Now basically, without getting into a lot of unnecessary detail, a loincloth is a piece of clothing covering the most intimate part of the human body. God gives specific instructions to Jeremiah. After wearing the loincloth, he is told to place it in the cleft of a rock near the Euphrates River and leave it there. Within a short period of time, after being exposed to the weather, the cloth is ruined. Here's where the fascinating part comes in. The message that God wants to give Israel is that originally, God looked at Israel as His loincloth, but it has now become ruined because of their sin and disobedience. What an amazing description of His relationship to Israel! God chooses the word picture of the loincloth! Here's what God says in verse 11: "For as the loincloth clings to the waste of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen." What strikes me is the ultimate degree of intimacy this description portrays. God could have chosen all kinds of clothing in this word picture. Shirt, hat, pants, shoes, coat, tunic...the list goes on. But what did God choose? The loincloth...the most intimate form of clothing that a human at that time could wear. Why? I strongly believe that God is once again illustrating for us just how intimate He desires our relationship with Him to be. He doesn't simply want acknowledgment from us...He doesn't just want casual relationship from us...He wants to have the most intimate relationship possible with us...far more intimate than we could ever imagine. As I think this through, I'm humbled and embarrassed by the different ways I push Him away or seek to avoid the relationship He would like to have with me. How can I not be drawn toward the God who also calls us His bride?