Enduring Love

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. – Psalm 36:5

If you look closely at the picture above, you’ll see that this woman has underlined and written all over her Bible.  She has learned an important truth about faith: if you desire to know God more, then go to His word and He will reveal Himself to you.  God promises to pour out His unfailing love on those who know Him. 

Spending time in God’s word delights Him.  Your love for God will grow as you know Him more intimately.  Jesus taught us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). Just like any relationship you are trying to strengthen, growing closer to God takes time and effort.

When I was in middle school, it was “cool” to go ice skating on Friday nights.  Guys and girls would partner up during “couple’s skate” to skate around the ice holding hands.  As soon as you skated a few times together, you were considered to be “going together.”  If your relationship lasted more than a few weeks, you were supposedly “in love.”  Like it was yesterday, I remember my 7^th grade locker partner posting a sign in the school hallway: “Laura + Chris = TLA” (True Love Always).

I was incredibly embarrassed.  But at the same time, I was a little intrigued by the concept of love.  I loved the idea of being in love.  My young, teenage mind desperately wanted to know.  Did “true love always” really exist?  Where could I find it?  

We can discover everlasting love all throughout the Bible.  God gives us numerous examples.  Twenty-six times in Psalm 136 these words are repeated, “His love endures forever.” Here are just a few ways God expressed His love:

·             God loved Abraham and promised that he would be the father of many nations. (Genesis 17:4)

·             God loved the Israelites and rescued them from slavery. (Exodus 6:6)

·             God loved Rahab and saved her when the walls of Jericho fell. (Joshua 6:17)

·             God loved David and disciplined him through the prophet Nathan after committing adultery and    murder. (2 Samuel 12:7)

·             God loved Ruth and made a way for her, a foreigner, to be adopted into His family through faith and marriage. (Ruth 4:13)

·             God loved Mary Magdalene and healed her through Jesus. (Mark 16:9)

·             God loved and didn’t condemn a sinful woman caught in adultery. (John 8:11)

This is the God we love.  His love does not condemn.  Instead it rescues, saves, redirects, adopts, heals, and endures forever.  God is the same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. (Hebrews 13:8).  His love for you is TLA – True Love Always. 

Engage With God - Read and Reflect

DAY 7 – Enduring Love

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. – Psalm 36:5

Daily Reminder: 

We can be thankful that God’s love endures forever. (Psalm 136) His love never condemns but instead it rescues, saves, leads, adopts, heals, protects, and provides.  

Real Life Reflection Questions:

1.          Do you have teenage memories of being intrigued by love?  Did you long for “True Love Always”? 

2.         Look at the list of people God showed His love to at the end of Day 7.  Which story in the Bible speaks closest to your heart?  Why?

3.         What if our days on earth are to learn to love God more because we’re going to spend eternity loving Him in heaven?  How does that idea impact your heart and mind?

QUICK PRAYER –

Lord God,

Your love reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.  Thank you for loving me with a true, enduring, everlasting love.  Your love saves, rescues, heals, helps, protects, and provides for me.  I am forever grateful.  Help me to love You intimately and intensely all the days of my life.

In Jesus’ Name I Pray, Amen

RECORD TODAY’S THOUGHTS – Enduring Love!

Personal Bible Study- Read, record, and reflect on these scriptures. Let them seep into your soul.

Psalm 36:7 –

Psalm 33:5 –

Psalm 33:20 – 22 – (personalize this into a prayer)