A Prayer to Understand That Love Is Unyielding - Your Daily Prayer - April 30
A Prayer to Understand That Love Is Unyielding
By Chris Eyte
Bible Reading:
‘Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm, for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.’ - Song of Songs 8:6
Read or Listen Below:
Looking across the sea bay from where I live is a land on the horizon. It’s visible depending on the light, night or day, but often, a fog hides it from view. It marks the frontier to a county, actually in a different country, where my father is buried. He died 20 years ago at the time of writing, and it’s a strange temptation when I look at that slug of countryside far away and think my dad is there. Yet the reality is that he isn’t there at all! “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing!” Jesus once said (John 6: 63a).
Even so, a visit to the graveyard where his remains are interred is a sober reminder that we can all feel the harshness of loss when those we once spoke with, laughed with, and spent time with are no longer there. I took my children to see my dad’s grave for the first time last summer, but there was nothing to see: just grass, a headstone, a photo, floral arrangements, and grass.
Is there any power known to man that can really - and I do mean really - provide an answer to such bleak finality? Who could grab hold of the mocking silence of Death and brutalize it, making it subservient to Life? It seems impossible, absolutely impossible.
However, history records that there once was a Man, nailed to a cross, bleeding on the wood, who surrendered his life to the powers of darkness. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down his life for us…” (1 John 3:16a)
The love of Jesus Christ is both the balm for our griefs and the conqueror of the menacing evil that caused the pain of death in the first place. The Bible tells us that He has dealt a death blow to Death itself. We don’t see the result yet, but it is prophesied that judgment awaits Satan, and the illusion of our beloved’s demise will be shattered forever.
And this is a purity of love gifted to us by God that does not give up. It is unyielding. Say that to your circumstances: unyielding. Say it to the loneliness. Say it to the failures and feelings of guilt. Unyielding. Say the word in the depths of mourning for your loved one. Say it to the obstacles blocking your fruitfulness. Say it to the maelstrom of memories plaguing you night and day.
Unyielding! God’s love for you is unyielding. Say it to the false idea that you are defeated and hopeless. Say it to the diagnosis of disease and fears for the future. Say it to the color of death ruining your existence's contours, crevices, and depths. There is hope beyond the graveyard. One day, there will be no more graves. Unyielding!
The abyss does not exist in Jesus's presence. His love is jealous of us, and He won’t give up on his children. He holds us firmly—unyielding!
Let’s Pray:
Heavenly Father, In this precious moment, I yield my soul and other parts of myself to you. Your love for me is genuinely unyielding! Satan wants me to despair, but I am free not to be so. You have liberated me and called me your own. I am reassured. I commit now to sharing your love by helping others. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/john_jennings
Christopher Eyte lives with his wife Céline and three children in Swansea, Wales, UK. He has worked as a journalist for many years and writes his own blog (hislovefrees.life) encouraging others in their walk with Jesus. He became a Christian in February 2002, after a friend explained God's amazing grace!
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