SPEAKING TO THE SOUL

Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.
Deuteronomy 7:9 NLT

Jayne and I often comment on the amazing diversity of shapes, sizes and colours that emerge from both seeds and bulbs. The packages come with pictures and a promise. The seeds and bulbs themselves are not attractive. Yet, faithfully following the planting instructions gives rise in time to a beautiful display of flowers.

God’s promise and provision is just like those seeds and bulbs. Once planted within the soil of our lives they will, if tended according to the instructions, give rise to a harvest of God’s unfailing love. Just as in the garden we’ve discovered that we may need to move plants to ensure they have the best chance of growing well, and at other times we lose plants and must sow the seed again, we can find ourselves wrestling with how best to realise God’s promises in the garden of our life and through the various seasons we encounter. One thing we can celebrate and be sure of is that God’s love is a given and if nothing else we can hold onto this.

However, for most people, truth has to be tangible to be believed. Yet, many of the greatest things in life are invisible, such as a parent’s love or a partner’s loyalty. We may have indication through actions, yet anyone who has experienced the joy of being loved knows that there is a reality that itself informs the action. The experience is not simply the act of kindness, but the spirit with which it is offered. We too often seek to judge God on the basis of external reference points within our lives, when in fact regardless of circumstance we can rest in the sure knowledge that God loves us and we are safe within God’s eternal embrace. This flies in the face of evidential truth and reflects the character of true love.

QUESTION

Do you struggle to hold onto God when the evidence of his love seems sparse?

PRAYER

Thank you, God, for your faithful promise to keep loving me.

Photo – Donaghadee by night