God’s Steadfast Love
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Psalm 66:1-4, 8-20
1. Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; 2. sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise! 3. Say to God, "How terrible are thy deeds! So great is thy power that thy enemies cringe before thee. 4. All the earth worships thee; they sing praises to thee, sing praises to thy name." [Selah] 8. Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard, 9. who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip. 10. For thou, O God, hast tested us; thou hast tried us as silver is tried. 11. Thou didst bring us into the net; thou didst lay affliction on our loins; 12. thou didst let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet thou hast brought us forth to a spacious place. 13. I will come into thy house with burnt offerings; I will pay thee my vows, 14. that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. 15. I will offer to thee burnt offerings of fatlings, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. [Selah] 16. Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me. 17. I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue. 18. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. 19. But truly God has listened; he has given heed to the voice of my prayer. 20. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!
When we’re in a bad situation, we often bargain with God. We make promises to Him about our future behavior, “if only You will . . .” You can finish the plea for yourself. This psalmist addresses two different issues here. The first issue is that God is worthy of our praise. Period. The second is that He sustains us during times of testing and trial.
God will see us through every situation, no matter how difficult. It is so wonderful when we can see His hand even in our hurt and our pain. And praise Him in the midst of our anguish. In the refining process silver is “superheated” to check for any impurities. That could be how the psalmist feels-as if he has been tested by God. But really, any time we spend away from God is our own doing. God is always with us. If we don’t feel His presence, it’s because we’ve moved away from Him. We decide we know best, and decide we can “do it” better our way. That’s what creates the distance—our pride and our stubbornness. But God is also just, and we must always suffer the consequences of our sin. Of course, we have been warned . . .
Okay, so where does that leave us? Part of our commission, our responsibility, is to let others know how good and how strong and how just is our God. We need to declare to everyone who will listen, “I sinned and I was dealt with justly by my God.” Now I am joyful to be back in right relationship with Him, because I feel His presence again, and I know that the next time I’m tried and tempted, I’ll have this situation to remind me that God is both faithful and loving! I may have the fortitude to resist—and, hopefully, I’ll go to God first—before I act or speak inappropriately. And I’ll also feel less hopeless as I struggle through. Because I’ll remember that God got me through the last time, and promises to do it again—every time.
Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me. That’s really the summary of this psalm! And that’s really a summary of God. His love is steadfast, strong, sure. Never-ending. Without bounds. Amazing. Unimaginable. And after centuries of our always falling short of our end of the bargain, God sent His Son. He changed the deal, so that we would always have “one more chance” to seek His forgiveness.
Let’s not push our luck, and keep asking for that “one more chance!” We need, today, this very instant to praise God for His steadfast love, and make the decision to seek after Christ-likeness. That’s the ideal, that’s the goal, that’s the way we receive eternal life. In the seeking. In the acting, and in the thinking, in the trying. And in the praise of our amazing, incredible, indescribable God!
I hope you spend your day praising God for His steadfast love and striving to become like Christ.
Mary
