His Love Endures

Sunday was an extremely hard day for me. I found myself in a mental and emotional tug-o-war which ended with me asking myself the questions, “What’s wrong with me”?

I cried out to God as my husband and I made our way to his grandmother’s house for lunch. The Lord gave me Psalm 118 to read so I opened my Bible in my lap and began to read. I would post the chapter but it’s a bit long so I encourage you to read it in its entirety but for now I want to summarize a couple of points.

The chapter begins with this:

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

“His love endures forever,”

“His love endures forever”…..His love. Endures. Forever.

Endures can be defined as: to remain firm under suffering or misfortune without yielding, to continue in the same state.

Wow. God’s love endures. It remains firm under suffering or misfortune without yielding. God’s love endures. It continues in the same state regardless of what we have done. God’s love endures.

“His love endures forever,” is found 5 times in this chapter. The number 5 holds the spiritual meaning of grace. What I love about this chapter is that it is literally a wonderful gift of how we can be confident in God’s eternal love for us even in the midst of our changing situations all wrapped up in grace. The chapter begins with stating that his love endures forever and ends with the same statement. From beginning to end His love endures forever!

So I thought about how his love endures and I paired it with my own situations. Here is my own little psalm…

Through my failures I find grace; “His love endures forever,”

Through my struggles I find grace; “His love endures forever,”

Through my resistance I find grace; “His love endures forever,”

Through my fears I find grace; “His love endures forever,”

Through my weaknesses I find grace; “His love endures forever,”

Through my doubts I find grace; “His love endures forever,”

Through my pride I find grace; “His love endures forever,”

Through my insecurities I find grace; “His love endures forever,”

Through condemnation I find grace, “His love endures forever,”

“His love endures forever!”

Try writing one out for yourself. It’s quite encouraging and a great way to work out those lies and negative feelings that have you tied down.

The author of Psalm 118 is unknown but in verse 25 he cries out to God stating, “Lord, save us! Lord, grant us success”! When I read this I thought, “Yes! Me too God! Me too”! I quickly realized that when I pray I pray for the Lord to give me strength to fight temptations, to make smart choices, to desire to workout but I have never truly just prayed for success! My prayer should be, “Lord, help me to be successful in my food choices. Lord, help me to be successful with my workout goals. Lord, help me to be successful”. There is nothing wrong with straight up asking the Lord to help you be successful. He wants you to be successful and he wants to help!

When I study scripture in my Bible I also read the commentary at the bottom. I like to learn other perspectives on the scripture I had just read. Sometimes I have no clue what a verse meant so these little tidbits of insight are great. So as I read through Psalm 118 I of course read the commentary at the bottom of the pages. I found this to be so encouraging:

“There are days when the last thing we want to do is rejoice. Our mood is down, our situation is out of hand, and our sorrow or guilt is overwhelming. We can relate to the writers of the psalms who often felt this way. But no matter how low the writers felt, they were always honest with God. And as they talked to God, their prayers ended in praise. When you don’t feel like rejoicing, tell God how you truly feel. You will find that God will give you a reason to rejoice. God has given you this day to live and to serve him- be glad!”

So, in my circumstances of yesterday that have overflowed into today, through the lessons of Psalm 118, I can rest knowing that I can find success in the Lord my God because “His love endures forever” and is full of grace. I rejoice in knowing that I am never alone and that through the hardest of days God’s love for me endures forever. I can praise his name because he is the God of second chances and today I am here, writing you all, getting another crack at this thing called life!

Father God, I thank you for revealing your forever enduring love for me. I praise you for showing me grace when I don’t deserve it. Thank you for loving on me when my heart is so broken. I pray Lord that you would continue to love on mew (us), to reveal your truth to me (us), and help me (us) to walk in your ways. I (We) love you, I (we) thank you, in Jesus name, Amen!