March 19/Second Tuesday of Lent
[God said,] “Forever I will keep my steadfast love for him, and my covenant with him will stand firm.” ~ Ps 89.29
The ease with with which we can conduct and manage our relationships electronically — “unfriending” someone on FaceBook, texting a last-minute cancellation of plans to a friend, “ghosting” a jilted lover on a variety of social media — has certainly diminished the reliability factor in human interchange. Whether we are distracted, hesitant to commit, or simply conflict-averse, we hide behind screens as we let others down, or are ourselves disappointed. Human fickleness is nothing new, of course; the means of expressing it are simply modern and oh, so streamlined. But ever since Adam and Eve exchanged accusations of blame in Eden, we’ve been unworthy partners. Over against our human unreliability stand the rock-solid assurances of God (and the metaphor of God as our rock occurs in the preceding verse, as it does many other places in the Psalter). God himself steps into the psalm to attest to his firm and steady presence. Forever, he declares — not just for years, or centuries, or even millennia, not for any measure of human time, but forever will I keep my steadfast love for you. My covenant promises to be your God, and for you to be my people, are neither wobbly, nor weak, nor subject to a better offer — they are firm and lasting. Everlasting. Even the most reliable of human relationships will fall away in this life, since all of us are, as yesterday’s psalm put it, “doomed to die.” But granted the amazing and unbelievable gift of God’s abiding love, we have a rock we can cling to even if all else falls to pieces around us.
Lord Jesus Christ, Help me find a refuge in your strength and security in your steadfastness. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031919.cfm
To hear Johnny Cash sing “Rock of Ages, cleft for me,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJbehtEIULk
