God at Work: God Loves & God Grieves

The idea that any variety of love would be forbidden by God, who is love makes no sense at all. The book of Samuel revels a love-at-first-sight intimate relationship between David and Saul’s son, Jonathan. The strong but vague description is an invitation to reflect on the many types of relationships in which we engage and God’s blessing upon each of them.

The story also reminds us that the cost of loving relationships is often grief. This is the life God has for us. This is what matters. Not victory. Not conquest. Not a triumphalism. This is what matters – to love and be loved, to be held and saved by God even in our deepest grief.