photos by: JODIE BRIM CREATIVE
When’s the last time you witnessed lasting, unshakeable love – you know, that kind of devoted affection that goes the distance no matter the upheaval? (Are you scratching your head yet?)
If we’re honest, we more readily recall relationships that broke down before they even got going. We remember when love disappointed and devastated hearts beyond repair. We ponder love stories, once glowing with passion, that fade a little more with each passing day.
People “fall in love” every day! The problem is, they rarely stay in love.
We promise “to have and to hold” another human from this day forward…until forever! “For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish till death do us part.”
This is what we say. It’s rarely what we do! (I’m not shaming you. I was raised by a single mama. Stay with me!)
Far too many of you reading my words have experienced the agony of divorce. It’s a death that keeps on dying, isn’t it? With children involved, it’s impossible to bury that relationship once and for all. The sting persists, and awkwardness pervades each family milestone moment.
Others feel the anguish of a loveless marriage. The impassioned affection you once shared seems to mock the shell of lingering memories from yesterday. You don’t know how you got here, but everything feels different, and it’s not going back.
TOO MANY of you know what it’s like to give all you’ve got, and STILL, no matter how hard you tried, “unfailing love”…FAILED!
Even those of us who remain married to the one that still causes our heart to skip a beat realize we sometimes fail the one we cherish, and they inevitably fail us, too. Welcome to humanity!
So, when God comes around with words like, “I am FILLED with UNFAILING LOVE and Faithfulness (Exodus 34:6),” it lands flat. Our jaded hearts can’t bring ourselves to believe it, not REALLY.
Did you know…this caliber of love doesn’t fit on any chart? FOR REAL! The English language has no verbiage to do the job! Are you getting this? Trying to describe God’s steadfast, reliable, UNFAILING loyalty toward us won’t fit in our vernacular!
When you study, in the original language, descriptions of God’s “Unfailing Love and Faithfulness,” the long and the short of it is this: You can ALWAYS count on God! He can NEVER let you down!
I know, I know. Your mind immediately brings up moments in your story when love ran off the tracks into a ditch and left you with a limp! I hear you loud and clear. BUT HEAR ME!
You think God dropped the ball because you’re seeing only a glimpse of the finished picture. We see things through the glass dimly from where we presently stand. (I Corinthians 13:12) We struggle to understand certain moments because we see mere pieces of the whole.
I can’t help but think of loved ones who left too soon. That heartache still stings. God let us down, or so it seems from our tiny peephole. It’s blurry from where we stand, y’all! But, when we see it all (and we will), we’ll KNOW with absolute certainty that we can ALWAYS count on God! He can NEVER let us down!
I don’t know what kind of sorrow you’ve endured. Perhaps the people you counted on most hurt you most. Maybe the ones to whom you gave your heart walked away and never returned.
I’m telling that hesitant heart of yours that God is on your side! His love is too expansive for your mind to comprehend! I’m believing this day that your wounded heart opens enough to let Him in…REALLY let Him in!
“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet God’s UNFAILING Love for YOU will not be shaken!” (Isaiah 54:10)
Friend, He’s talking to…YOU!
For comments or prayer, please contact Dr. Lanier at HopeCommunityChurch.tv.
