Unfailing Love…the Same in All Languages

 

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning…  O Israel, put your hope in the Lord for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.” *    

Believe it or not, I have homework this summer! Our Spanish teacher at the Senior Center gave the class a daily assignment, one that turned out to be more complicated than expected! Whether it was the challenge of keeping up with it every day of summer vacation, the promise of a prize at the end, or maybe just the desire to learn Spanish, a goal for many years, it’s hard to say. But it certainly has been keeping me busy!

The assignment was to learn a new word from the Spanish dictionary in the back of our reader and then write a sentence using that word. Soon I discovered that although the first part of the assignment was fairly easy, the second part was much more difficult.  

For a person just beginning to understand a new language, not just one word, but most of the words in the sentences I want to write are new!  Parts of speech, correct grammar and even punctuation have to be learned in order to create a decent sentence, stretching me beyond my level.

A couple of resources have helped—my friend Bonnie who is a retired high school Spanish teacher, and an old paperback Spanish/English dictionary that Al used when he was taking it in college. Al also is a good resource, remembering a great deal of what he learned in past courses.

I decided to avoid using the internet, just because the more I am involved in looking up the meaning of words and trying to come up with a sentence, the easier it is to remember them. Little by little, my vocabulary is growing.

A Spanish Bible that has been on the bookshelf for years is now providing new insights into scripture as well as plenty of new vocabulary. Of course, it helps that the Spanish version is the same as my English Bible, and that I can get the general meaning even though it isn’t exactly translated word for word.

 Memorizing some of the scriptures has been laborious but rewarding, expanding my understanding. In Psalm 130: 7 for example, “unfailing love” is translated “amor inagotable.” With a stretch of the imagination, inagotable sounds somewhat like inexhaustible, the definition given in the dictionary.

The idea of God’s love being inexhaustible expanded my previous understanding. His love is always available to us and freely given. It will never run out or have to be rationed; and God will never grow tired of loving us. We can count on that!

Our teacher most likely didn’t realize all of the thinking that her assignment would generate! However, one of her goals is to “stir the coco” of her students by teaching them a new language. Thinking is important for those of us who are seniors, as well as for people of all ages!

In meditating on God’s unfailing love in Psalm 130, I could relate to the psalmist, who was crying out to God for mercy. Perhaps his relationship with God had been severed due to sin.

“If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared.” (verses 3-4)   

Like a soldier on watch, waiting for dawn through the long hours of the night, so the psalmist waited for God’s answer to his prayer.  He found comfort by remembering that God is forgiving, and that in Him is redemption from sin. Because of this, he waited with hope.

 Hoping in God’s Word and in His unfailing, inexhaustible love, the person who wrote Psalm 130 was able to look beyond his own situation and encourage the people of Israel to have hope in their Redeemer.

I too am encouraged, knowing that God has shown His unfailing love in and through His Son, Jesus.  Jesus gave the greatest gift of love that can be given when He died on the cross to pay for the sins of mankind—all of the sins, for all people. He paid the full price for our redemption and salvation.

So, thanks for the assignment, dear Spanish instructor… and thanks be to God! 😊

*Psalm 130: 5-7 NIV