Trusting God’s Steadfast Love
Jenny Marcelene, Guest Writer
Today’s Treasure
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift my soul.
Psalm 143:8 ESV
Last night orange letters flashed their warning on the black digital road sign. Residents were instructed where to pick up sandbags for the impending storm heading our direction.
This morning as I gaze out my living room window from the dry comfort of my plush armchair sipping Oolong tea, ceaseless buckets of rain pour down from the sky. Our sidewalks have turned into brooks. The creek for run-off water has become a fast-flowing stream. The dark gray sky maintains its poker face and dispels hope for drier, sunnier moments anytime soon. I wait to see how the storm unfolds.
On a heart level, the author of this psalm, David, known as a man after God’s own heart and the second king of the Israelites, understands this waiting during a storm. After receiving a promise from God that he would become king, he finds himself fleeing from the current king, Saul, who wants nothing more than to end his life.
David is desperate. Scared. Confused. Hopeless. He’s at the end of his rope. Perhaps you’ve been there too. Unsure what’s transpiring. Shards of your dream crunching underneath your feet. Fearful about an outcome. Lonely.
Rather than succumbing to despair, David turns his eyes to his faithful God. He doesn’t know when God will stop Saul’s pursuit of him, but David knows God’s love can sustain him moment by uncertain moment. The word in Hebrew for steadfast love can be translated as “loyal love.” This loyal love implies God will step into the situation as a way to demonstrate His love. David understands God’s intervention may not happen now or in the ways he anticipates so he cries out for the Lord to strengthen him to endure. To cultivate a trust he may not feel in these frightening minutes.
God used a season of difficulty to shape David into a man who relied upon God aloneand experienced the bottomless love of the Lord along the way. This molding—however painful— was foundational for what David would face in the years ahead as the king of the Israelites.
For believers, we are guaranteed trials are par for the course in our lives (1 Peter 4:12). But we also know His steadfast love is always beside us (Lam. 3:22), and why David cries out for a reminder of God’s love in his storm. While the storm raged around my community, soon I returned to walking my labradoodle puppy around our neighborhood. Uprooted trees adorn some of my neighbors’ yards. A friend shows me pictures of her flooded yard on her phone. But the storm passed. And even though rain is forecasted to return tomorrow, today the sun greets us.
No matter how bleak our situation may feel or how unrelenting our circumstance seems, we can ask the Lord to sustain us with His love and cultivate a deeply rooted trust in Him as we walk through hardships.
PRAYER
Lord, help us to keep our eyes fixed on You as we walk through trials. Remind us of Your steadfast love and deepen our trust in You. Amen.
*A version of this piece was originally published at The Round Farmhouse.
More free resources for help, hope and healing: Ask Dr. Betters is a topical video series of over 425 videos that have reached over 1 1/2 million views. Dr. Chuck F. Betters answers questions submitted by the listening audience on suffering and the sovereignty of God. It is MARKINC's hope that Dr. Betters answers will reinforce that God is good and worthy of our trust even when life is difficult and when we struggle to understand Him. You can learn more or subscribe by clicking here: Ask Dr. Betters.
About the Author: Jenny Marcelene I spent six years living in conservative Muslim countries and desire to help parents and children catch a glimpse of how God is at work among the nations. I've traveled to 30 countries (and I'm not counting layovers when you don't actually leave the airport—that's cheating in my book!) and marvel at how each culture uniquely reflects aspects of God’s character like a multi-faceted diamond. I work as a freelance writer and editor, including projects for Oakseed Ministries International. Once upon a time I worked as a Children’s Ministry and Curriculum Coordinator at my previous church for three years. I'm a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and hope*writers. Visit her website here.
For more from Daily Treasure please visit MARKINC.ORG.
Originally published Friday, 30 August 2024.
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