Psalm 36:5-7—Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, Your justice like the great deep. O Lord, You preserve both man and beast. How priceless is Your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
“Merry Christmas!” she says as he picks up his bags. Her store seems to explode with activity as people rush to buy gifts. Jingle bells lag behind the more familiar ka-ching of cash registers. What bells toll in
Yuletide music is light and cheery with the hope the holidays communicate. How many college students will fly home to be with family? How many children will stoke the fire of merriment as school is set aside? Dead green trees adorn the tops of vehicles making their way home. For weeks they will stand beautifully adorned by ornaments, and lights, underneath the gaze of a metal angel or some priceless figurine.
But not every house will blink with lights or play songs of a Savior wrapped in swaddling clothes. In every town and city are those who sit at home bereaving a wife, a child, a parent, a friend who left the world on an eternal hiatus. Stress, grief, and memories of pain will suppress many hearts just hoping to endure this time of long nights.
God never changes. He is not pumped by the beat of the rapper or depressed by a polluted environment. He is not incapacitated by the sins of a spinning globe. He is not paralyzed by the hatred of those who mock His existence nor will He turn His back on those who seek Him though for a season He may not be found. He is immutable. During a season of great contrasts this reality is gigantic.
God never changes. His loving-kindness extends from the farthest reaches of unseen galaxies to this very page you are reading. His loving-kindness is better than life for without it we could not live. His loving-kindness is capable of taking our joy to a deeper dimension. His loving-kindness is available to cover us with comfort. It brings understanding to confusion; rest to anxiety; refuge to fear; meaning to emptiness; value to worthlessness; hope to despair. God loves us so much! Perhaps it is during the very hustle of holidays that we need to remember this truth the most. Jesus takes us inside the shadow of the El-Shaddai! In the refuge of His love we find blessing.
Inspiration
