Monday, August 8, 2011

Monday, August 8 - Jody

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is: Psalm 136, 146, 1 Corinthians 3

Happy Monday Everyone! Sorry for the late post. Our Internet connection was out for a long time this morning, so I'm late getting this out.

Today I was struck by Psalm 136 and the repetition of "His love endures forever". I looked up this Chapter in the John Schultz bible commentary website and found:

When reading this psalm, we ought to imagine that it was intoned by a song leader and answered by the congregation, accompanied by the clapping of hands. The rhythm increases and the enthusiasm at the end is an ecstatic shout of praise. The keyword in the refrain is chesed which represents God’s covenant with Israel. It is the love contract, such as a marriage bond. God has linked Himself to us legally in love. This covenant cannot be broken. The issue is not, in the first place, the emotional aspect of love (however wonderful that may be) but God’s commitment to us. Human marriage is, in effect, the best illustration of this.
I love how this commentary ties in to what we've been talking about over the last several weeks - that this love with our God is not (just) emotion based. It's a covenant and a commitment. Just like our human marriages, it's a commitment we've made to our spouses that even when we don't feel "weak in the knees in love" with our partner, we're still committed.

But this chapter looks at it from GOD's perspective. Even His love ENDURES forever. Let's look at the definition of "endure" found here.

Definition of ENDURE
transitive verb
1: to undergo (as a hardship) especially without giving in : suffer <endured great pain>
2: to regard with acceptance or tolerance <could not endure noisy children>

intransitive verb
1: to continue in the same state : last <the style endured for centuries>
2: to remain firm under suffering or misfortune without yielding <though it is difficult, we must endure>

I've always looked at this definition as "to continue in the same state" and appreciated that God continues on loving me forever. But what about the other definitions... The idea that loving me forever causes him to undergo hardship without giving in? Or remaining in love for me even though it's a constant supply of suffering and misfortune? I am imperfect, but even still, my God has entered into a covenant relationship with me, where even though it's not always an emotional love, it's always a committed love. And I sure am thankful that he endures me!


Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 147, 148, 1 Corinthians 4

2 comments:

Miriam said...

Amen to that! I had always thought of the "lasting" definition for endure, but the others definitely apply.

Tammy said...

Great thoughts Jody! I, too, like the "extra" definitions of endure.

To me it also just reinforced the amazing truth of God's love being unconditional. He loves no matter what. And yet this unconditional love won't rescue us from His holy wrath if we refuse to accept Him as Lord and Saviour.

In our Corinthians passage I've always loved the whole "some water, some plant, but God makes it grow" section. But what I haven't noticed as much before is that Paul makes a point of saying that we will be held accountable for our watering if we were called to water. We can't just say "well, God makes it grow so He can just do everything Himself". God chooses to work through us flawed humans, and we will be held accountable for our participation or lack thereof.