I will fully and freely admit that I am stretching things here. But I believe I am able to see the steadfast love of God every day.
If you’ve read many of these devotions, and particularly any that I (Chuck—there, I gave it away, and you don’t get to play the guessing game today!) have written, you may remember that five years ago Lib surprised me at Christmas with a ten-week old female black lab we named “Scout” (after the spunky character in To Kill a Mockingbird).
Scout is the most amazing illustration of the steadfast love of God that I know. The Hebrew word is hesed, and the Greek equivalent is agape. This is love without strings attached, love despite imperfections, love that can be neither earned nor deserved yet still remains. Simply because. In the mornings, I let Scout out and feed her while I make coffee. Then we go down to my office in the basement where I have my devotions. She rests on her bed until she sees me put my pen and journal down. In a flash, she jumps up on me and simply looks into my eyes.
You want to know what God’s love looks like? Come over to my house and let Scout look in your eyes.
As Scout and I sit and look at one another, I—every day I tell you—struggle to accept the fact, and fact it is, that God loves me more than this dog loves me or I love her. So I sit there with her and do just what the Psalmist suggests—even if it’s in my basement office and not in the temple.