July 11 – Hope in Unfailing Love

July 11 – Hope in Unfailing Love

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.” (Psalm 130-5-8)

There was absolutely nothing worse than having to sit down with either Mom or Dad and hear those devastating words, “I’m disappointed in you.”  I would have preferred to be punished in some awful way – a flogging would have been easier to take.

Then there was the day that Mom was furious at me for some stupid high school thing I had done.  I have no memory of my action, but I remember her telling me that she could no longer trust me and wouldn’t be able to for a very long time.  I was going to have to figure out how to regain her trust.  That conversation destroyed me.

We can’t avoid it – people will disappoint us and break their trust with us.  As much as we try to be loving and wonderful, we will do hurtful things to each other.

The most difficult thing to accept is that there is really no one on earth that can say they’ve never disappointed another.  We don’t have a perfect human model to aspire to.  We fail in our love and in our relationships.

That’s why it is so good for us to have a God who does not disappoint, who never fails, who sets before us a model of perfect love.  When we lose hope in each other, we don’t have to lose hope completely because God offers love and notice that right after that, the Psalmist tells us that in God is full redemption.  When we fail – there is redemption.