Psalm 136:23 – It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever.
THEME OF THE DAY: THE STEADFAST LOVE OF GOD. If anyone reading today’s nugget is suffering a little of the “spiritual blues”, maybe a little discouraged with life and their walk with the Lord, this one is for you. Actually, let me restart this thing. When anyone of us fall under the dark cloud of the “spiritual blues” and experience discouragement with life and our walks with the Lord, this one is for us.
When such seasons come to us and they will, God has not left us to ourselves. Yes, we may feel all alone but we are far from alone. God’s presence with us is constant and unchanging even though the felt awareness of His presence is not. Someday it will be constant and unchanging. We yearn for the day that our faith gives way to sight. Just pause and think of seeing Jesus face-to-face. It will make all our sufferings and sorrows in this life we endured for His sake and His Gospel worth every minute. But until that day, our Heavenly Father gives us tokens of His love to keep us fighting the good fight of faith, even in times of spiritual darkness. One of those love tokens is found in today’s scripture and the phrase “For His steadfast love endures forever.”
The steadfast love of God. It quiets the worst of storms raging in our hearts. It calms the winds of tough circumstances seeking to topple us over. It motivates us to holy living, sacrificial service, and self-denying warfare against the world and flesh. And to really get just how committed God is to make it known to us, take time today and don’t just meditate on today’s one verse about His steadfast love. Take the Bible and slowly read through the entire 136th Psalm. After reading it, go back through it and prayerfully thank the Lord for His steadfast love every time it appears in the Psalm. We will be repetitive in this prayer, but this time, repetition in prayer is just fine. We will find ourselves giving God thanks for His steadfast love twenty-six times because the phrase “for His steadfast love endures forever” appears in every verse – twenty-six of them.
As we read and pray through this Psalm, remember two things about God’s steadfast love. First it is loyal, devoted, and unchanging. That means it will not alter itself based on our conduct. God’s steadfast love remains so because of Him, not us. If we see this spiritual reality, our zeal for His glory will become so intense that each and every day will find us more and more committed in attitude and action to His will. We will be transformed in our understanding and living of the Christian life. When the child of God is experiencing and knowing His steadfast love, we are radically changed The love of God shapes our lives so we truly become consumed and focused on the Lord Jesus, not some of the time, but all the time.
A second truth about the steadfast love of God is its unfathomable depths. It can never be exhausted. It knows no end. It will be on display and given to us throughout eternity without ever running out. This really becomes the true Christian’s desire and experience both now and forever; to taste, know, and enjoy the love of God in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:14-19). And just so we really believe His steadfast love to us, God repeats Himself twenty-six times in twenty-six verses. Why such repetition? He wants us to get it, really get it. He knows this is what satisfies the human soul now and in all eternity. Why? Because “His steadfast love endures forever.”
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You, not just for Your love, but also for its never changing nature.”
QUOTE: “When embraced by God’s steadfast love, we live more and more under its control.”