Too Long

My wife and I are lovers of music and have varied musical tastes. We often equate listening to my iPod on shuffle as giving you musical whiplash as it shifts genres. We also love to put together playlists of songs for each other for occasions and seasons of life. One of the recent playlists my wife made for me had the old Otis Redding song, "I've Been Loving You To Long" on it. I do love some old R&B and soul music and this song in particular has a great groove to it.

I was thinking about the words to the song today, "I've been loving you too long, to stop now" and how even as they affirmed the love of my wife & I, they were an even stronger statement from God to us. So many times we feel abandoned because of our circumstances or confused by what we feel is the silence of God. We wonder why a relationship has ended, how our loved one could have died, or why this depression won't seem to lift. We end up feeling completely alone and isolated from others and particularly from God.

While we won't necessarily get an answer that makes it all easy to understand, God does offer us the comfort of us steadfast love. He doesn't leave us or abandon us, but simply says, "I knew you before anyone here ever thought of you and my love is just as strong today in your sorrow as it was when you were born. I have invested my power, my love, and my Son for your sake. No matter what you may think or feel, I have not left you. I have been loving you too long to stop now."