A Bottomless Well
“But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those revere Him”.
Psalm 103:17 (NASB)
“Nobody likes me”, she said. She has uttered those words several times a day – almost every day as long as I’ve known her. It often seems as if she will never be filled up with encouragement, care, or the friendship of her peers or teachers. I’ve watched students befriend her, congratulate her on awards won, celebrate with her in sports, and no matter how much they demonstrate that they like her, she still will say those words. Many times, I’ve watched her laugh and be silly and play around with her classmates and when I do, I have hope that maybe now she will finally begin to absorb their friendship. However, it never seems to change her. It seems to bounce right off of her. It’s almost as if she won’t let it go from her ears to her heart.
It’s almost as if her heart is bottomless pit.
While we are intervening with her, I’ve also thought that we too have hearts that are bottomless pits. We long for an everlasting love. Is there a love so great to fill us? Is there a bottomless well to fill a bottomless pit?
I know in seasons of extreme loneliness or pain, I have felt as if my heart could never be filled enough with love. The sorrow at times has gone so deep that even the comfort of friends and family was not enough to meet that need. Those times can lead to deep despair......unless we really did know a love that can meet us in the depths of our need.
That one word, unless, can change everything. Read the Psalmist’s words,
“I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see
the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
Psalm 27: 13 NASB
Life will not fully satisfy us…..unless we let Love satisfy us. God’s love. A promised Love. St. Augustine once wrote that “our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Him.” Jesus is the only One who is a bottomless well of Love. He is the only One who can reach to the depths within us. He is the only One who can satisfy our ever-longing hearts.
“The lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting...”
Psalm 103: 17
There is no human love – no material good – no achievement or prestige that is as sufficient and complete as the love of God. Our hearts will never find complete rest in any other person or thing than the love of God. We will have lonely days and days of disappointment but we do not need to despair because His love never fails.
To this student, and to my own heart, the Psalmist reminds us that His well of lovingkindness never, ever, ever runs dry.
Mary Quillin is a city-girl-turned-country-girl in her new life in North Dakota. She has been married to her hubby for 16 years and has 3 wonderfully, different kids who have begun their teen years (and she would appreciate all the prayers as possible on that note). After many years in full time ministry, Mary is learning how to show up and daily discover the journey of being available for whatever Jesus leads her to. She spends her days trying to build a welcoming shabby chic home in the heartland of North Dakota while learning to write and run.