Somewhere buried in the basement bins and boxes I have the very first Valentine I received from a boy in 4th grade. It is a handmade card with a big red foil doily heart pasted to the front, and a few other heart stickers around it. I didn’t remember that I kept this particular card until I came across it years ago in that box of all the things you take from your childhood when you move out. In a drawer in my closet I also have tucked away all the first love letters from Jeremy. Almost 20 years ago and I haven’t thrown away a single word he wrote to me.
Genesis through Deuteronomy are commonly believed to be the first letters that God wrote to the Israelites through Moses. They recount the beginning of God’s relationship with his people, the stories, the laws, the promises, and the covenants that God made with them. Over the next few centuries the rest of the letters were written, carefully copied by hand, preserved, and passed down from generation to generation.
Have you ever considered that the Bible is like one long lover letter from God to his people? It’s the single most important document recounting God’s relationship with his people from the very start. I had a professor once say that the entirety of the Old Testament can be summed up in this “Israel is unfaithful, God is faithful”. Over and over the Israelites rebel against God’s law, and yet His love never fails. It is the same today! While we are still sinners, Christ died for us. Even as we fail Him, even as we make mistakes and wander and become lost, God constantly draws us back to Himself though His unending love. The bible reminds us that when everything else in our world seems to be temporary, even relationships, Gods ultimate sacrifice and unfailing love for His people is constant.
Whether you are having the best day ever or you find yourself lonely or distracted you can rest daily in God’s love by simply opening His word. I’m not saying that we don’t also yearn for relationships here on earth. I am saying that you are loved beyond measure, and you can rest in that assurance much more than just one day a year.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom. 5:8
“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17