Look to the larks

For the longest time, my youngest would never fall asleep without me fulfilling his one request, “Mama, can you sing Jesus loves me?” By the time I’d reach the last line, he’d be fast asleep.

Many times, in the darkness, I’d sit and think about this song — so simple, yet so profound. “Jesus loves me, this I know.” But how much do I really know the depths of God’s love for me? 

Of late, the Lord has been teaching me that no matter how tightly I try to hold on to everything that is dear to me — be it loved ones, health or circumstances — it can all pass away.

“For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but My steadfast love shall not depart from you, and My covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10 

When we look at the mountains which have been there since ages past, it’s hard to imagine them being no more. Yet, the Lord says even that is temporary. The only constant we can hold on to in this life is His steadfast love towards us.

How His love works

Sometimes, I feel overwhelmed by all that is happening around me, but this prayer of Moses in Psalm 90:14 keeps coming back to me: “Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy all our days.” 

Our times are often a jumble of endless monotony, sudden tragedy and days filled with unrest about the uncertainties of the future. But whatever our day may bring forth, if we can begin it by asking the Lord to show us how much He loves us and rest in that knowledge, we will experience His joy despite our circumstances. 

That’s how God’s love works. It deepens our faith to trust that He will take care of all our tomorrows. It opens our eyes to see ordinary things that we often take for granted, as His mercies from above. It carries us and sustains us, even while He walks us through the valley of the shadow of death. His steadfast love is more than enough for our every need and is the anchor we can hold on to, even when everything else is hopeless.

The love of God can carry us and sustain us, even while He walks us through the valley of the shadow of death

Songs for the darkest nights

While in the Nazi concentration camp, Corrie Ten Boom suffered atrocities we could never imagine. She wrote this in her autobiography: 

“Once, while we were on a roll call, a cruel guard kept us standing for a long, long time. Suddenly, a skylark began to sing in the sky, and all the prisoners looked up to listen to that bird’s song. As I looked at the bird, I saw the sky and thought of Psalm 103:11, ‘For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear Him.’ O love of God, how deep and great; far deeper than man’s deepest hate. God sent that skylark daily for three weeks, exactly during roll call, to turn our eyes away from the cruelty of man to the oceans of His love.”

May the Lord open our eyes and our hearts to help us recognise the skylarks that He brings in different forms in our life every day. It could be random acts of kindness or providence when we least expect it. 

He sends it that we may understand a little bit more of the length and breadth and height of God’s boundless love. This love that is far, far greater than any tongue can tell or write about. May this truth satisfy us every morning, empower us and give us a song to sing, even in our darkest nights.

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:21-23.