| “The earth is filled with your love, Lord; teach me your decrees.” |
| —Psalm 119:64 |
In some ways, the Scripture verse at the beginning of this blog post is startling to me. I have never particularly felt that the earth was filled with God’s love. Please understand, I’m not saying that the earth is not filled with God’s love. Rather, I’m stating that I can’t say that I have ever particularly felt that the earth was filled with God’s love. Obviously, my feelings are wrong—as they so often are.
Truth exists well outside the realm of our “feelings.” I learned that fact many years ago in the somewhat muddled experience of seeking one-on-one counseling from a psychiatrist in an attempt to get at the root of my “weight problem.” I’ve told that story several times on this blog. After eighteen months of once-a-week counseling, the psychiatrist fell asleep during one of our sessions. That was the end for me. Over many years I have come to realize that I often tell boring stories, but up to that point, I had never put anyone to sleep—at least as far as I know.
I did learn some very interesting things about myself during those sessions. They helped expand some of what I learned about myself during the mandatory group therapy sessions I had to attend in college, as a part of my Psychology major. One of the things that I learned in both counseling experiences is that I have a “love deficit” left over from the circumstances surrounding my birth. I will spare you the long and tortuous explanation as to why this is so. But, let me hasten to add that, in spite of the circumstances of my birth, I did grow up in a very loving and nurturing Christian home, where my adoptive parents showered me with their intense love.
My particular psychological anomaly has made me remarkably unsuited to getting along with most people—a problem that plagues me to this day. So, when I think of most of the circumstances of my life, I do not immediately think of those experiences as being marked by “love.” But, that’s actually a feelings problem, not reality.
Reality is that God has showered me with His love, just as He has showered every person that He has chosen to belong to Himself. From God’s perspective—and that’s the only perspective that really matters—the earth is filled with His love. We are the recipients of that God-initiated loving environment.
The only appropriate response to an earth filled with God’s love is to seek to learn what He has decreed and to make those decrees a vital part of our lives—thus, the admonition from the Psalmist. So, as we begin this new day, let us bask in the glory of God’s unfailing, undying love. And, let us seek to learn His decrees and follow them all the days of our lives.
Based on a blog originally posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2016
