For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.
Psalm 103:11

God is saying to us,

My love for you is so great! It is as high as the heavens are above the earth. It is higher than you could ever imagine. There is no limit to my love for you. My love for you is inexhaustible. I will never stop loving you. Never. In fact, I will never love you one bit less than I love you right now, no matter how much you mess up, because my love for you is perfect and unconditional. This is my love for you: as high as the heavens are above the earth!

In a movie called The Bear, a young cub loses his mother to hunters. It has little chance of surviving in the wild. But an enormous papa bear takes the cub under his care and begins to look after the cub, showing the little bear how to forage for food and survive in the wilderness. One day, the cub is ready to venture out on his own. He is off on an adventure! But a mountain lion spots the cub and begins stalking it. The mountain lion creeps up and attacks the cub. The cub escapes but the mountain lion is stronger and faster. When things look the bleakest, when it looks like the cub is going to be killed, the little cub rears up on its hind legs like he had seen the papa bear do.

Just at that moment, the mountain lion, inexplicably, backs up and slinks away. What happened? A mountain lion is not frightened by a mere bear cub. The camera lens widens and you see what the cub couldn’t see, the giant papa bear was 20 yards behind the cub, reared up on its hind legs, ready to pulverize that mountain lion.

You realize that the papa bear had kept his eye on the cub the entire time. Yes he gave the cub space and freedom to depart, but the papa bear still cared and he kept his eyes upon the cub he loved. And when the mountain lion attacked, papa bear came running!

You are that cub. God is that papa bear. Yes, God will give you space and freedom to leave him. But he keeps right on loving you. And he never takes his eyes off of you. And when you are desperate, God will rescue you from the prowling lion who seeks to destroy you.

For your entire life, every single day, God has never, ever taken his eyes off you.

Time to go home, back to God.