HUGADAY

READ PROVERBS 8:22-31

     “HUGADAY.” Those were the letters of a license plate on the back of a white Buick in the parking lot.

     “People are so creative,” I thought to myself.

      Seeing the letters made me feel like the owner wanted to spread verbal hugs, however fleeting, to other drivers. Motorists could stop at a red light behind this vehicle, decipher the letters and grin to themselves as the light turned green! I was charmed by this person’s gracious public gesture and immediately became a fan of random hugs.

     Hugs are easy to give and receive. Handshakes are friendly but formal. Kisses are way too intimate. But hugs land in the middle as appropriate, healthy behavior. People don’t have to find words when they hug others because body language speaks for itself. It says, “I want to be close to you.” I believe those who hug necks freely are free people who understand the value of dispensing doses of emotional medicine.

     I think of “hugaday” when I consider God’s ability to be there for each of us every single day. Jesus promised to be with us in this age and forever. “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) He is always available to us. No day goes by without access to God’s love, power, and mercy.

     Solomon, the author of Proverbs, expressed this easy access to God by creating the persona, Wisdom. Disguised as a witness to the magnitude of creation, Wisdom speaks in first person but is actually the mind of God speaking for Himself.  “When He marked out the foundations of the earth; Then I was beside Him, as a master workman. And I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in the world, His earth, and delighting in mankind.” (Proverbs 8:30-31) From this passage, we get a panoramic view of God’s creative power at work, the heavenly bodies, the earth, and humankind. As He scans His creation, He delights in it and especially in us.

     From the position of eternal love, God sees every person on the planet every day, every hour, and every moment…all at once. We are never not in His view. “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9) In the musings of Job we read this: “His eyes are on the ways of man; he sees their every step…” (Job 34:21) The Psalmist personalizes God’s omniscience even more. “You know when I sit and when I stand…Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely.” (Psalm 139:104) The full scope of this ongoing scrutiny is unknowable to man yet consoling because we know that His gaze is benevolent.

     Finally, here is the “hug” part as God presents Himself as Savior to lift our burdens from us. “Praise be to the Lord, to our Savior who daily bears our burdens.” (Psalm 68:19) God sustains His world and He sustains us. His heavenly hug comes from His personal intervention. This is the hope that we all can have: “You who seek God, may your hearts live!” (Psalm 69:32) Look to Him and expect a “hugaday” that your heart may live!