In Psalm 63:3, the Psalmist says that “God’s steadfast love is better than life.” What exactly does that mean? I would say that Toasted Almond Fudge ice cream is better than Vanilla. This is simply a qualitative comparison. It means if I had the choice, I’d chose one over the other. Is that what the Psalmist is saying? If he could only have one, life or God’s steadfast love, he’d take God’s steadfast love. There is something that the Psalmist perceives that I must be missing. I just can’t really get a hold on God’s love for me as profoundly as the Psalmist did. I’ve tasted Toasted Almond Fudge ice cream and I’ve tasted Vanilla. I know from experience that if I could choose only one, it would be Toasted Almond Fudge. I’m 72 years old and I’ve tasted life in many different ways, but I’m not sure I’ve ever really “tasted” God’s steadfast love. It’s hard for me to say which I would choose, if had to choose between one or the other. It would be a difficult decision.
I don’t doubt God’s love for me simply because that’s the key message of the Bible. The written word is God’s message of His love for us. Jesus Christ is the “in flesh” demonstration of that love for me, but I still have trouble “tasting” it. I want to taste it! I want to experience it somehow. Yet there is something in my being, character, or makeup that makes it incredibly difficult for me to grasp the fact of God’s love. I’m not sure what that is but I have an idea that it’s related to the fall, and the fact that our nature isn’t fully capable of comprehending the things of God, especially something as profound as His Love for us. When Paul prays for the Ephesians he wants them to sink their roots down deep into God’s love so that they may be able to understand how high, wide, deep and long it really is. Yet he adds in Ephesians 3:19 that he wants all believers to “experience” God’s love even though it’s “too great to understand fully.”
Watching the sun go down the other night was glorious. This huge ball settling graciously into the horizon. It didn’t take 15 minutes for it to disappear. I had to stop and remind myself that the sun wasn’t moving at all. I was moving! The earth was turning and where I was standing was rotating away from the sun. I had to change the whole way I was experiencing the event. It was hard to do! I had to force myself to think about that because what I saw appeared completely opposite. The sun was going down! Thinking about, meditating on, God’s Love for us can be a fruitful endeavor. Paul finishes his prayer for the Ephesians in chapter 3 by explaining that only through experiencing (tasting) God’s love, sinking our roots deep into it, can we “be made complete (mature) with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” Instead of exerting our energy on trying to make ourselves better people, more disciplined, better organized, more successful or more dedicated and committed, maybe we should spend more time focusing on God’s love for us and let the Spirit do the work in us. Rest in what God has done for us, rather than in what we do for God. Let’s trust in Jesus, not in religion. Think about it!