Psalm 90:13-15 “Relent, O Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.”

An old saying claims, “Hunger is the best cook.” Food never tastes better than when you have worked up a voracious appetite. When Moses says, “Relent O Lord! How long will it be?” he is speaking as a hungry man. But the food he longs for is something to fill the spiritual emptiness created by a long meditation on sin and death. If all we knew of God was his anger at sin and the death it brings, we would spiritually starve to death. But it also gives us an appetite for something else from God: his unfailing love.

You see, for as long and as passionately as our God has hated our sin, he has loved us with a love that knows no limits and knows no rest. His love knows no limits. Think about it. What could you possibly imagine to ask God to give up that would be such an imposition, such an outrageous request, such a painful sacrifice, that he would say to you, “Now that is going too far. That’s out of bounds. That’s just too much to give up.” What could you ask him? He has already given up his home, his power, his respect, his Son, his life to love you. Isn’t that what Jesus is all about, God giving up everything to forgive you and to save you?

His love knows no rest. It is unfailing love. He doesn’t have a bad day at the office and take it home to take out on you. He doesn’t grow in a different direction and grow apart from us. He doesn’t burn out from constantly pouring himself into this relationship with little or no appreciation in return. His love is unfailing. It knows no rest. It never takes a day off.

Doesn’t that satisfy the hunger, like a bowl of hot soup on a cold day? But doesn’t that also serve as something of an appetizer for even more? Happiness and peace are elusive in this world. We find our little moments of relief, we experience some joy, but it is all so fleeting.

There is only one place I know where God will make us glad for as many days as he has afflicted us, and even more, and that is in heaven. This is yet another promise of his unfailing love, and if we have learned to number our days here, we will spend them longing for the better days to come.