I will never forget you.
We’ll stay this way forever.

Have you ever heard someone promise you’d be in their heart forever and ever? The world may end, but their love or friendship will last until the end of time. And it sounds pleasing to our ears when we hear such things. However, it takes a few short years to discover that human pledges, based upon the best of intentions, are about as valuable as the wisdom we find in a fortune cookie: “You will always be surrounded by true friends.”

Even though we know better, we want such words to be true because there’s something in each of us that yearns for that kind of forever love, that unchanging, pure friendship and unbreakable loyalty. We may hope that we can find that in our human relationships, but in time, we discover that we can see only an approximation of it in this life. In many cases, we’re surprised how fast our closest friends, and even what we’re convinced is the love of our life, change almost overnight without even an explanation. “______ just walked out of my life.”

Human fickleness has always been true. A great philosopher wrote that it’s possible to wake up one morning and find that your friends are no longer your friends, and you may never discover why. Have you been there?

If you haven’t, one day you probably will. If you have, there is something you need to know. It’s in despair that we discover life’s most valuable lesson: the wobbly, zigzag, lighter-than-air commitments and pledges of human beings underscore the vast difference between them and the absolute and unwavering love and loyalty of our Creator.

The Psalmist assures us, “For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end” (Psalm 48:14). God will be our friend and guide to the last day of our lives—and into eternity. We needn’t fear when people turn away from us, for they (we) are weak and undependable, but God will still be there next to us when our last friend goes AWOL.

So, if you’ve been stunned by the unexpected departure of that lifelong friend or that ultimate love, take hope in God’s promise found in Isaiah 49:15: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you.“

We find what we long for and seek all through life in one source—the God who made us. And he made us with this longing (this obsession) for real love—true, unwavering loyalty, which sticks with us through thick and thin. Yes, we can find what appears like that, or something close to it, in fallen human beings (even that is a gift from God), but when it comes to the whole, complete reality that meets our heart’s needs, it has to be what God offers to us.

And when, one day, we encounter those human relationships that are the real thing, we enjoy them with gratitude toward the God who created them and brought them into our lives. Behind each one is the guiding and gifting hand of our eternal Friend. In the meantime, don’t settle (ever!) for anything less.

Prayer for Today:

Lord God, it doesn’t take long to lift my eyes off of you and put my trust in someone who can’t be as loyal as you are. Keep me focused on your eternal, unchanging character and enable me to accept myself and other people for what we are. Amen.