As the nights start drawing in and the air turns from the autumnal
crispness to the early winter dampness, I often have going around my
head the lyrics “Nothing lasts forever even cold November rain,”
from a song by Guns N' Roses.
Axl Rose, the lead
singer, explained that “November Rain is a song about not wanting
to be in a state of having to deal with unrequited love.” In the
song the singer says to his girlfriend “It's hard to hold a candle,
in the cold November rain”, in other words that it's hard to keep
loving when that love isn't returned, with the 'cold November rain'
being a metaphor for that unreturned love. The song is however
hopeful that one day she will stop having affairs and love him back;
“Cause nothin' lasts forever, even cold November rain.”
It's sometimes said
that the whole of the Bible is like a love letter written from God to
all of humanity, and to each of us as individuals, to tell us that
God wants to be in a relationship with us. Indeed, all the way
through the Bible, the relationship between God and his people is
described as a marriage. And this marriage isn't always easy. The
Old Testament prophets, and particularly Hosea, describe the marriage
relationship between God and his people going through a very rough
patch. God tells Hosea “like an adulterous wife this land is
guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord” (Hosea 1:2). Indeed God's
chosen people, the 'wife' he loves, is behaving more like a
prostitute (read Ezekiel 16:25-26 for a graphic description!) The
whole of Ezekiel 16 lists all the things God has done for his people,
which only makes their rejection of him more hurtful.
But despite the 'cold November rain' of his people's rejection of
him, God doesn't abandon them but still holds a candle for them.
More than that he forgives them! “ 'Return, faithless Israel,'
declares the Lord, 'I will frown on you no longer, for I am
faithful...I will not be angry for ever. Only acknowledge your guilt
– you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have
scattered your favours to foreign gods under every spreading tree,
and have not obeyed me' ” (Jeremiah 3:12-13). God also says “I
will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has
turned away from them” (Hosea 14:4).
God doesn't overlook his people's unfaithfulness but he acknowledges
it and provides a way for them to be forgiven. “Husbands, love your
wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to
make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the
word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without
stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless”
(Ephesians 5:25-27). Jesus' death takes the punishment for our
rejection of God so we can be reconciled, restored and renewed.
As we venture out this
month into that cold November rain, let us remember God's longing for
each of us to know him and to be in a relationship with him. Whatever
your past or present, he holds a candle for you and is waiting for
you to return.
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