Week 13: Psalm 118
Psalm 118
If I'm being honest, I've spent the majority of my life seeking love that feels secure. During my confusing, adolescent years, I wrestled with feelings of abandonment because my father chose addiction over our family when he decided to leave us. Down the road, I suffered the heartache of rejection from relationships that ended when I expected them to last forever. I even crumbled under fear of loving anyone again after my college boyfriend passed away tragically. I pondered the purpose of loving at all, because it seemed to always end in disappointment–either someone would remove themselves from the equation or life would snatch them away.
As much as I hoped that these insecure thoughts about love would disappear when a wedding ring slid onto my finger or a baby was placed into my arms, they didn't. An “off” day with my spouse or a difficult day of parenting is always a humbling reminder that human love is packaged with hurt. I quickly saw that marriage isn't a 24/7 fairytale love story, my kids' behavior can be far from loving, and that I, myself, am unable to model perfect love. Our sinful nature makes it impossible to love even the people we care about the most without limits, conditions, and the need for reciprocity.
The bad news is committing to love someone is basically signing up to fail daily and choosing to do it all over again the next day.
The good news is that the love God has towards us is perfect.
Our human experiences with love can make it hard to fathom the miracle of being loved by the God we read about in Psalm 118 whose “steadfast love endures forever.”
Some synonyms for steadfast are firm, unwavering, not shakable.
These lyrics from a popular Christian song keep coming to mind as I process the stability of God's love:
I will build my life upon your love, it is a firm foundation
I will put my trust in you alone
And I will not be shaken.
This is the faultless love story we enter into when we decide to follow Jesus. Once He has our hearts, He keeps them safe in any and every circumstance.
When we speak words we wish we could take back, He still loves us. When we complain excessively, He still loves us. When we fail others, He still loves us. When we forget His past faithfulness, He still loves us. When we question His goodness and His character, He still loves us. Consider these truths:
If we are faithless, He remains faithful— for He cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:13
God is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it? Numbers 23:19
Sister, join me in being unleashed from the lie that you are unlovable. The steadfast love of the Lord is calling us to surrender. Take a deep breath, release the tension in your neck, and fall into the comfort of His arms. He is strong enough to carry every part of us- the good, the bad, and the ugly. And He wants to.
So how should we respond to this immeasurable love? We give thanks.
We lift our hands and hallelujahs to Christ the cornerstone, whose love is a firm foundation.
Join me in Psalm 118 as we bask in the goodness of His love together.
-Simone