Transformed – teen devotion – September 13, 2020
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Psalm 90:14
Play the song of unfailing love
Think back to all the times you wandered away from God’s presence. It never ends well, does it? After so many times, you’d think that our God would say, “I’ve had enough already!” You’d think for all the times that we go wandering through this desert life looking for a drop of water anywhere but from the Rock of our salvation, that God would finally turn away. I mean, how long does a guy continue to pursue a girl who isn’t interested? Or, how many times does a girl allow her heart to be broken by someone who has eyes for everything else but her? Only so much.
But, not our Lord.
This was the reality of God’s relationship with his people during the desert wanderings described in Psalm 90. The One who had rescued his people over and over again through miraculous plagues and parting waters was refused at every turn by his wayward people. If there was ever unrequited love, this was it. God had fallen in love with a people. But they were prone to complaining and straying.
But God never gives up. That’s the amazing thing about God and his pursuit of us too! He never gives up. At the same time, he never forces himself on anyone. He will never make you love him. For those who refuse to turn to him and only complain, there is only a hard reality—a thirsting one, a desert one. God sometimes allows us such an experience so that we come to our senses before we perish in the wilderness of this life and enter into the absence of God, his eternal wrath. That’s precisely Moses’ experience and that of his generation in the verses leading up to the song being played for us today in Psalm 90:14: “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.”
God’s love finally broke through! His people who loved to stray finally began to cry out to him for rescue and true love. Though they didn’t deserve it, they realized all their pursuits only left their souls desperately parched. God’s love finally won over their stony hearts. It melted their cold complaining. It revived an attitude of faith and gratefulness. God’s love rescued those who returned to him in repentance and trust.
Such a beautiful song is the same song Jesus Christ puts on our lips and in our hearts. He suffered in the wilderness of our rebellion on the cross and withered in the depths of hell so we could be revived in every way. Has such a love broken through to you? It has! You have been baptized into Christ! May we never wander from his love! And when we’re tempted to grumble and go astray, may we quickly turn back in that moment to his unfailing love.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, don’t give up on us, even when we stray. Should complaint flow from our lips, forgive us. Soften our hearts by your unrelenting love in Christ. Give us a renewed love for you and satisfy us every morning! Amen.
