Unchanging love

I adore this photo of my parents, taken during their engagement. They celebrate their Diamond Wedding Anniversary on July 15.  Dad said last week that their love for each other has grown even deeper in the last year even as they have faced lockdown and health difficulties together.

Years ago, I asked them for tips on marriage. I didn’t expect this one – both of them said, “The person you end up with isn’t the person you married” – in other words, expect change! At which point, Dad chuckled. 

Life brings changes that we never anticipated – it certainly has for me. But covenant love remains unchanging.

Because we are precarious, fleeting creatures, we lapse in our loves, both to God and to other people. And then in our foolishness, we imagine that God is like us. But God isn’t. We may forget our first love; our Saviour always remembers his covenant love for us.  

God remembers his love for us.

God remembers his promises to us.

Did you think he might forget you? 

I have had the post-Covid brain-fog and have dropped some balls and forgotten some important things. God’s memory is never clouded. Whatever we forget, he doesn’t forget his love for us.  

When the Israelites groaned under their slavery, God heard them and he remembered his covenant – he looked on them and was concerned about them. (Exodus 2:25)

When you groan under the stresses of life, God hears you and he remembers his covenant – he looks on you and is concerned for you.

I have never liked change much and yet changes keep rolling in. I love my new house but new beginnings bring challenges. Here his heart-steadying comfort: when all around us, all about us, even all within us changes,

God remembers his covenant forever (Psalm 105:8)

And even through the changes, our love can grow deeper still.