Steadfast Love

Scripture Texts: Genesis 22; Romans 8:31-39; Hebrews 11:17-19

He waited for over a century. There must have been repeated attempts met with only failure. The drive to get what he wanted was so great that he even went outside the bounds of his marriage. Yet God finally gave a son to Abraham. Then a little over a decade later God makes an audacious request, give the son back to me as an offering. Even more outrageous is that Abraham puts into motion a plan to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. In the end we see that God did not have Abraham sacrifice Isaac but that it was even a possibility seems too much.

Have you ever wanted something more than you wanted God? At first this is a crazy question, once you dig into the question the answer might be more revealing than we like. Most of the time we do not outright say that we want something more than we want God, yet our choices and actions reveal something different. Is it possible that God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to see if he desired God more than his beloved son?

The love relationship we have with God is not a one way street. It is not only about our love for God but God's love for us as well. If Paul is correct, and it is safe to say he is, there is nothing that we can do that would cause God to cut us off from being loved. Tragically there are times when our love for God is not as steadfast, these are the times when we love, or desire something other than God the most.

In marriage steadfast love is required to cultivate a strong marriage. This is love for God as well as each other. It is important to remember the order, our first love is God, our second love is our spouse. That seems strange to write, however that is the correct order. In fact to fully love our spouse we must first fully love God and know that we are loved by God. Often the love we feel for our spouse can be shaken because the love we feel with God can be shaken, This usually comes in the form of us wondering if God could love us. Here we claim the promise of God that nothing can separate us from the love that God has for us in Christ Jesus.

Through it all love is what holds life together. The love of God and the love of our spouse. While it would be great to say this love is always experienced as perfect we know a different reality. Still we can have confidence in knowing the love of God is steadfast even if we are not, and that God longs for us to desire God more than anything else.