Psalm 63:4-5
“Your unfailing love is better
Than life itself.
How I praise you!
I will praise you as long as I live,
Lifting my hands to you in prayer.
You satisfy me more than the
Richest of fare.
I will praise you with songs of joy.”
(Psalm 63:4-5)
The people who came to see Jesus the day He fed the 5,000 had been there a long time. I picture men, women, and children sitting together, hanging onto every word our Lord spoke. They didn’t want to leave His presence. His words were life to them. The only food available came from a boy with five loaves and two fish. Jesus gave thanks, broke the bread, and distributed it to over 5,000 people. They ate as much as they wanted. He satisfied their hungry souls and their bellies. Isn’t that what He does for us, too? He is so good.
As humans, we don’t always know what we need most. We chase wealth, prestige, or power. Life experience often shifts that longing to security or safety. We know we need love, yet that need can show up as pride or a desperate search for approval. We swing between self-glorification and self-loathing. But at the core of our humanity, we long to be seen, known, and loved with an unfailing love. The longer I live, the more I realize how deeply I need this.
Only God’s unfailing love calms my fears and lifts my head. In His love, I have nothing to hide and nothing to prove. What others think of me—or even what I think of myself—matters far less. His unfailing love is better than anything our hearts desire because our hearts were created to desire Him. The gospel declares that He alone has the authority to accept us because He paid the price. He died to declare us holy, pure, and acceptable in His eyes. In Him we find a love we will never find anywhere else. This is the ultimate satisfaction. No amount of gourmet food, wealth, houses, cars, clothing, human praise, or self-love can compare to the unfailing love of our God.
I believe it was the presence of this amazing love that kept the crowd with Jesus that day, even when their bodies were hungry. And at the end of the day, they discovered He could satisfy them completely.
Judy Linscheid
Writing Team