"She Will Be Loved" but I'm talking about the Church

There are some things built into us that deeply parallel our relationship with God. Some of the feelings we feel toward others paints us a picture of how God might feel about us. “She Will Be Loved” by Maroon 5 is an example. This song tells us of a girl that has no trouble finding help. She starts giving herself to others, while the one that truly loves her gets her only some of the time, but is always there to help her back up. He wants more with her, but more than that, he wants to make her feel beautiful, help her when life falls apart. Still she always leaves him for the others and the heartache and abuse of strangers. But in the chorus he shouts out, “I don’t mind standing every day, waiting for you in the pouring rain. Then it talks about how, if she lets him, she will be loved. The end of the music video has this moment when she rejects him because she doesn’t feel worthy, doesn’t want to give in after all the time that has passed and just feels like a mess, but he chases after her.

The writer likely isn’t a Christian, but he displays at least a partial understanding of God’s longing for us as His bride and His pursuit of us in light of his struggle. This story is almost (with a couple significant exceptions) the story of Hosea and Gomer. It also gives us a picture of God longing to love us and longing for us to open up our hearts and to trust him, how he chases after us, but respectfully so and shows us a side of God that is wildly compassionate and loving, even when disrespected and betrayed. He still loves us and still chases after us, waiting for sweet surrender and the beautiful love we never could have imagined.

The beauty of God’s character in this chase remains the same. However, so much of what happens is up to the one being pursued. For the woman in the song, it meant giving up a certain amount of her fierce independence and letting him love her though she wasn’t worthy in so many ways. For Gomer, it meant choosing to trust Hosea, her husband to provide food and clothing and shelter for her. For you and me it is there too. God is chasing after our whole hearts. What gets in the way of your sweet surrender to the Lord’s love that wants to make us feel beautiful, is willing to stand on our corner in the pouring rain and if we let Him, will love us as none other ever could? What is it? What must you do to remove all barriers and enjoy an ever deepening intimacy with our Lord? Don’t let another day go by without turning to the Lover of your soul.

Psalm 73:21-28, Isaiah 30:15, 18, Ezekiel 36:22-36, Zephaniah 3:17