Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. – Psalm 143:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 19, 2019): Psalm 143

What exactly is love? It is a question that might not have an obvious answer. From my experience with people, love is often defined as affirming and supporting your position, no matter what that position might be. We may talk about a tough love, but that is almost non-existent in our reality. Your child doesn’t want to eat. That’s okay, show love and support them in that decision. Someone is unusually demanding in their behavior. That is okay, show love and give in to whatever it is that they want. Love is always affirming. Love never asks questions. And, above all, love is a verb; it is an action and if I am not feeling that action then there is no love present.

My problem is that I am not sure that I agree. Yes, love supports us, even when we are wrong. But love also wants the best for us, even when what we are doing is not the best. Love gently shapes us. Love strengthens us; it allows us to be better. And love is an action, but it might not always be an action of which I am aware.

Specifically, I believe that God loves me, even when things are going wrong and my life is mess. In fact, God loves me even when I am the reason that things are going wrong in my life. But he loves me enough that he does not want to leave me in my misery. He wants to take action that will strengthen me and help me to move into a better future.

So I struggle with the words of this Psalm. The Psalmist testifies that he has placed his life into the hands of God. God is the only one who the Psalmist would trust with the core of his being. Yet, it is also obvious that the Psalmist is in trouble. Life is not going as he wished that it would. And he stands in need of help from God. And so his prayer is that help will come in the morning in the form of the love of God.

But God’s love is already present in the Psalmists life. He does not have to wait until morning for it to arrive. It has been surrounding him during every moment of the turmoil that the Psalmist is experiencing. The problem is that the Psalmist could not feel the love. But that did not mean that the love of God was not present in his life.

And that is a lesson that we need to learn. God is moving in our lives and loving us. But sometimes, as the stress of life mounts, we cannot feel that love. But being unable to feel that love does not negate it. By faith, we recognize that love is present, even when we can’t feel it. And we do not have to wait until the morning for that to be true.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 144