Day 6: Everlasting love
In a desert land He found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; He guarded him as the apple of His eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft. The Lord alone led him; no foreign god was with him (Deuteronomy 32:10-12).
Our Father in heaven, God of unfailing love, You showed Your measureless love and faithful care to the people You called to be Your own. You nurtured them, led them, and shielded them with sweeping and watchful parental care, compassion, and loving kindness.
You demonstrated time and again the vastness of this love that endures forever (Psalm 136). And constantly You upheld and validated them, reassuring them through the mouths of Your prophets: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued My faithfulness to you” (Jeremiah 31:3 – NRSVUE).
Unchanging God of love, Your love and faithfulness continue through all generations. Your plan was not just to call an ancient people, but to provide through them Your covenant Redeemer in whom all nations of the earth [would] be blessed (Genesis 26:4). And to Your people today, You declare the same message of Your infinite love:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?... For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35, 38-39).
Faithful Father, still today, You love Your people with an everlasting love. You nurture us; You lead us; You shield us with Your sweeping and watchful parental care, compassion, and loving kindness.
You, O God, are our Provider, Protector, Deliverer and Defender, Savior and Guide. It was You who rescued us from the barren and howling waste of sin and destruction. You shield us and You care for us; You guard us as the apple of Your eye.
You watch over us with Your eagle eye and You hover over us with Your wide-spread wings of refuge. You catch us and bear us aloft—above the raging storms of life to the safety and shelter of Your dwelling. You alone, and no foreign god. Thank You, God of unfailing love.
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