The Insecurity of Feeling Unloved

Scripture Reading: Psalm 48:9-14

Today's Treasure: "What a man desires is unfailing love; better to be poor than a liar" (Proverbs 19:22).

All of us have insecurities...even the most outwardly confident people we know. Minor insecurities can be little more than occasional challenges, but when life suddenly erupts like a volcano, insecurity turns into panic. Want suddenly feels like need. A hidden pocket of unmet needs suddenly quakes and leaves a cavern. The fear or feeling of being unloved is probably our greatest source of insecurity, whether or not we can always articulate it.

Jehovah God, the Great Soul-ologist, identified man's chief desire in Proverbs 19:22: "What a man desires is unfailing love; better to be poor than a liar." Look at the verse carefully. What in the world does being better off "poor than a liar" have to do with a man's desiring unfailing love?

Think about it for one moment! The Holy Spirit is pinpointing the deep origin of our constant cravings to have more and more of anything. He is implying that our human tendency is to stockpile belongings or amass wealth in order to satisfy a cavernous need in our souls. He is also suggesting that we are lying if we're saying that our greatest need is anything besides unfailing love. The word desires in Proverbs 19:22 implies a deep craving. Each of us craves utterly unfailing love: a love that is unconditional, unwavering, radical, demonstrative, broader than the horizon, deeper than the sea. And it would be nice if that love were healthy, liberating rather than suffocating, and whole. Interestingly, the Word of God uses the phrase "unfailing love" thirty-two other times, and not one of them refers to any source other than God, Himself. You see, God had the transcendent advantage. Because he created us, God got to make us any way He wanted. It's not His will for anyone to perish, and since the only way to have eternal life is to receive Him, God created us with a cavernous need that we would seek to fill until we found Him.

Searching for perfect, unfailing love in anyone else is not only fruitless, it is miserably disappointing and destructive. I am convinced our hearts are not healthy until they have been satisfied by the only completely healthy love that exists: the love of God, Himself. The following words by Oswald Chambers are not only written in the front of my Bible, they are engraved deeply in my mind: "No love of the natural heart is safe unless the human heart has been satisfied by God first."

Lord, I recognize that You are the only giver of unfailing love. I know this love is my deepest need and I want to seek it only from You. I give you all my insecurities and confess that I desperately need You to satisfy my overwhelming need. Thank You for Your love. Let me desire it more than wealth. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Adapted from Praying God's Word, by Beth Moore, pages 89-90. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000. Used by permission.