“God, within your temple,
we contemplate your faithful love.”
– Psalm 48:9
In the original Hebrew, God’s faithful, steadfast, enduring, rock-solid love that’s being contemplated here is “chesed”. It is a fundamental attribute of God’s nature – He is steadfastly faithful and loving. God’s love is enduring, unshakable, unbreakable, unending. His love doesn’t wander or shift. His love doesn’t wax or wane over time. Faithful love is who God is and what He does.
God’s faithful love guarantees that He’s always with His people, because He’s faithful. That’s who He is. God’s faithful love guarantees that even when He disciplines His people, it’s out of love and for our best. That’s who He is. God’s faithful love guarantees that even if he feels “distant”, “absent”, or “uncaring” He isn’t. He can’t be, because God is steadfast, faithful, and loving. That’s simply who He is – we just struggle to understand that.
In our prayers and our worship, let us make much of God’s love! Let’s contemplate and celebrate it often! God’s love isn’t conditional or transactional the way so much human love is. It isn’t affected by shifting moods, gloomy weather, changing seasons, or external circumstances.
God’s love is ultimately and perfectly expressed by His willingness to send His precious Son into our world to sacrifice Himself on the cross for our redemption. God’s faithful love is what’s described in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”