Have You Almost Given Up on Finding a Love that Lasts?

Sunday Scripture

There’s something about a wedding that revives hope and renews my optimism about the carrying power of love. My son and his bride recited strong promises about a love that lasts in a ceremony that was both romantic and sacred. Love, respect, and faithful devotion are a solid beginning for a life-long partnership.

But they are not enough.

Because we are human, because our emotions flip flop, and because we hurt the people we are closest to, it’s pretty easy to slide into the opinion that lasting love is a Hallmark fantasy. Our hearts need the strong support of a love that never falters.

Praying through the psalms, I encountered these words about God’s love:

The steadfast love of God endures all the day.”

Psalm 52:1

Then, Jeremiah paused for breath in the middle of his intense Lamentations to remind himself and his readers of the same truth:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases…”

Lamentations 3:22

If you’ve become cynical about love and feel as if it has let you down one too many times, know this: God’s love is even stronger than wedding vows. It is gritty, and it endures long after the satin and lace have been packed away with the other family heirlooms.

If you’ve become cynical about love and feel as if it has let you down one too many times know this: God’s love is stronger than wedding vows. It is gritty, and it endures long after the satin and lace have been packed away with the other family heirlooms.

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God’s Steadfast Love

In the Hebrew Bible, God’s “steadfast love” is expressed using the word hesed. If you are a word-nerd like me, you’ll be interested to know that in 1535, Miles Coverdale jerry-rigged the term “lovingkindness” in an attempt to translate hesed. Strong’s Concordance tosses out “goodness” and “kindness” as somewhat lackluster synonyms The term occurs 251 times in 241 verses.

Just as our language is inadequate to express the wonder of God’s love, our minds, too, struggle to understand a love tinged with the flavor of all God’s attributes, a love made completely trustworthy by his holiness, sweetened by the perfect balance of his mercy and justice, made patient by his commitment to longsuffering endurance.

Our newly wed son and his bride have a fresh, glistening love that matches the shine on their wedding bands. It will be tested and tried as the years progress, and I have every reason to believe that it will hold fast, but it is a love that is designed only for this world.

God’s love endures for all eternity.

I trust in the steadfast love of God
    forever and ever.”

Psalm 52:8

Best of all, you can trust the love of God, even when your own love for him has been lost in the busyness of your life or in the distractedness of your swirling gray matter. When you have turned, disappointed, away from the new and shiny idol whose promises have proved to be thin, you will find that God’s steadfast love for you has never dimmed, never faltered, never faded.

Lean into his love today and find security in the only love that lasts.

Holding you in the light,

Our minds struggle to understand a love tinged with the flavor of all God’s attributes, a love made completely trustworthy by his holiness, sweetened by the perfect balance of his mercy and justice, made patient by his commitment to longsuffering endurance.

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