May your unfailing love be my comfort, 

according to your promise…

Let your compassion come to me that I may live

 

We do not usually seek unfailing love from people we fear. They are powerful but not loving. We might seek their approval, but not their love. We only show the parts of ourselves that will bring a smile or erase a frown.

 

But we also do not seek unfailing love from people we do not fear. They do not have the weight or the inner-strength for their love to matter in the ways that love needs to matter. Maybe they fear us or in some way have lost credibility. When they use the word “love” it has lost its most valuable qualities.

 

Yet there are the few who are both powerful and loving. You find them in books - Gandalf and Dumbledore come to mind. Their greatness was enlarged by their humility and compassion. The fortunate ones who feared them for the right reasons were wonderfully transformed. 

 

How much more do we find unfathomable power, wisdom, humility and love in Jesus? When we begin to fear Jesus for the right reasons we receive his most valuable gifts - and they reach straight into our hearts.

 

the Lord delights in those who fear him, 
who put their hope in his unfailing love.