Forever Love

Give thanks to the Lord, His love endures forever. 

“Joab was told, “The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.” And for the whole army the victory that day was turned into mourning, Joab went into the house to the king and said, “Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life…Now go out and encourage your men. He won over the hearts of the men of Judah so that they were all of one mind. They sent word to the king, “Return, you and all your men.” Then the king returned and went as far as the Jordan. When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell prostrate before the king and said to him, “May my Lord not hold me guilty. Do not remember how your servant did wrong on the day my Lord the king left Jerusalem. For I your servant know that I have sinned, but today I have come here as the first from the tribes of Joseph to come down and meet my Lord the king.”  2 Samuel 19:1-39

Would you describe yourself as someone who is grateful?  Not just someone who says thank you, but someone who exudes gratitude all the time. Can you keep your mind fixed on all the reasons you should be thankful? David could not. He lost his son and went into a time of mourning. His gaze drifted to grief and gratitude went out the door. He stopped thinking about others and thought about what he had lost. In the process, he alienated and humiliated the people who had laid down their lives for him.  It would be easy to judge David, but each of us do this when our thinking shifts from gratitude to anything else.  

David should have been singing and dancing for having survived. As much as it must have hurt to lose son, his son was trying to kill him so there’s that to remember. The beauty within the story comes when David sets out on a path of redemption and reconciliation. Jesus said the person who has been forgiven much loves so much. 

David realized how fortunate he was and forgave even the people who cursed him like Shimei. Should we not all forgive others because of how we have been forgiven and found new life? How is it possible to be a follower of Christ and have offense in our hearts? How could focusing on what has been done for you by Jesus help you hold on to the joy of a grateful heart throughout your day? 

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever. who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever. to him who divided the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever. and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever. to him who led his people through the wilderness; His love endures forever. and gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever. He remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever. and freed us from our enemies. His love endures forever. He gives food to every creature. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.” Psalms 136:1-26

There are two keywords to the repeated phrase his love endures forever. Love and Forever. The Hebrew word for love is hesed. There is no English word like it. It encompasses covenant love, loyalty, faithfulness, steadfast love, compassion, kindness, and mercy. God is this love all the time. 

Hesed is not an emotion. It is a commitment that endures all things. It is a love that keeps its promises and pursues the prodigal. No matter what God does, his love endures forever because He is love. Whether He is creating, judging, rescuing, disciplining, providing, or redeeming, His covenant love never fails. The entire story of Scripture is really the story of God’s hesed. The Bible is a love story. 

The other critical word is forever or the Hebrew word Leolam.  It is hard for finite minds to comprehend the infinite. Leolam comes from a root that means something beyond the horizon, beyond what can be seen, just beyond. Leolam is without the barriers or limitations of the physical. 

David was saying God’s hesed extends farther than you can see or imagine. His love does not stop. It endures beyond your past, your failures, and through all of your future. When God created all things, as He rescues time and again, while His people wander, as He provides daily bread. His hesed endures forever.

Now think about what Jesus did for you on the cross. He overcame all separation so that not even physical death could stop love from enduring. Think about Jesus. Think about the love that would endure the worst pain and greatest suffering so that you would live. God’s love is worthy of our thanks. Will you be grateful to God for all He has done, is doing, and will do because His love endures forever? 

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, defend the rights of the poor and needy. A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family…She sets about her work vigorously; She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. She makes linen garments and sells them, She is clothed with strength and dignity; She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Proverbs 31:8-30

Don’t we all want to live a noble life? A noble life is a life that reflects the nobility of our king Jesus. It is outward focused and a life of service. It involves sacrifice and sees beyond oneself. David went sideways in the first passage when he started to make everything about himself. He was a king who was not acting like a king. Noble people know the condition of others and how they can help.  

What does godly royalty look like? The wife of noble character is one who works hard, helps others, gives generously, loves faithfully, and fears the lord righteously. Are we not all called to live like this? Are we not called to live in a way where our lives reflect the love we have received and the love we have to give? 

“they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come…Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped…a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it…only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” Isaiah 35:2-10

Isaiah offers great encouragement to people in the midst of a really hard time. He said a time will come when I savior will open the eyes of the blind, open the ears of the deaf, heal the sick and hurting, help the lame walk. He will be the way the truth and the life. Truth tells us the redeemed will walk with joyous songs. Would others know you are redeemed by how you walk? 

It is truly amazing when you consider how God told all the people what the Messiah would do before Jesus did what He did. With each miracle that Jesus performed, He was providing proof of God's promise to save. He was showing that God's love endures forever. How could anyone miss it?

Consider what the scriptures say others will see in a person who is redeemed. Isaiah said that the redeemed will sing and rejoice. Are you singing and rejoicing? When others see you, do they see how thankful you are for your what Jesus has done for you? Or do they see the worry and the weight of the world because your focus is like that of David? As we grow in our devotion to Jesus, we will focus more on His faithful generosity and less on what we do not have.

“Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer…What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!” They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani…when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.” Matthew 27:11-66

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good his love endures forever. His love endures beyond trials and persecution, it endures beyond savage beatings and spitting in his face, it endures beyond humiliation and being hung on a cross. What does it mean to be thankful to the Lord when you consider what we have seen what the perfect love of Christ endured that we would be redeemed? 

The natural response when you consider the suffering of Jesus could be sorrow. We could find ourselves like David. Sad and distraught. Feeling unworthy of such sacrifice. But that is not what God wants for us. He wants us to have reverence and appreciate what He has done that we could not do for ourselves. His sacrifice is meant to produce a wellspring of joy and gladness in our hearts.  We are meant to live out the life described in Isaiah.  

Today is a day to give thanks. It is a day to give thanks with your words, your work, and your worship. It is a day to be joyful and look beyond yourself. It is a day to live out your noble calling like the wife of noble character by doing the best you can with all that you have been given, knowing that we are faithfully loved by God. How will you respond to the love of Jesus Christ? The Bible says you should go encourage others. It says you should share the good news with others and let everlasting joy crown your heads as you go in peace.