His Steadfast Love: the bedrock for the believer: Psalm 117

His Steadfast Love:

the bedrock for the believer

Psalm 117
He is a God of uncompromising justice, and yet mercy. A God with a backbone of steel, and a warm heart of compassion toward His people “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” His love is not thin, fleeting, or fragile. His love is not impulsive or unreliable. For His people, His heart is tender, gentle, lowly. And with staying power—steadfast and unchanging.
David Mathis

Psalm 117 is the shortest psalm and shortest chapter in the Bible. The psalmist directs our hearts in praise to God reminding us of the Lord’s steadfast love toward us and His faithfulness that endures forever (117:2). Praise acknowledges the worthiness of the Lord by putting into words, and also song, the truth of His character and how that anchors our soul. My aim in this post is two-fold. I want to look briefly at the definitions of His steadfast love and faithfulness and help us to speak praise to Him for who He is but also for how that truth helps us remain steadfast. Secondly, I want to give song recommendations about those glorious characteristics that we can then sing when we are filled with joy and when we need to remind our hearts of what is true. 

His steadfast love

God’s steadfast love indicates His “kindness, lovingkindness, mercy, goodness, faithfulness, love, acts of kindness” (Baker and Carpenter). Steadfast love is the Lord's covenant faithfulness and kindness to His people. In Psalm 136, steadfast love is repeated twenty-six times and it shows how God’s steadfast love is the bedrock of His actions and character. Because of His steadfast love He performs great wonders, made the heavens, rules the night, remembers us in our low estate, and rescues us from our foes (Psalm 136:4,5,9, 23-24). Therefore, we give thanks to Him. All these things are done because of His kind, faithful love for us. It is this same love that would not even spare His own Son but gave Him up for us and with Him freely gives us all things (Romans 8:32). 

What circumstances are causing you to question the Lord's steadfast love for you? In Psalm 77, the psalmist was in a dire situation and his struggle led him to cry, "Has his steadfast love ceased forever? Are his promises at an end for all time?" (Psalm 77:8). Perhaps you feel that way today. Perhaps the people and situations surrounding you make you feel like you are experiencing the displeasure of the Lord rather than His love. But Spurgeon said, "Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there." His love and wisdom have chosen for you and me the best condition for our souls at this time. 

His Faithfulness

God's faithfulness is His trustworthiness, firmness, truth, sureness, reliability, stability, and continuance. God's faithfulness means we can trust Him and rely on His Word. His character is steady and unchanging. It seems to me that there is a double assurance when God puts these words, steadfast love and faithfulness, together as He does in Psalm 117:2. He tells us His steadfast, faithful love is great toward us, and then He reminds us that His faithfulness to us endures forever. It's promise upon promise. God did this also with Abraham. The author of Hebrews tells us that when God, desiring to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, when He made a promise to Abraham, He swore by Himself. His promise to Abraham was already trustworthy, but in His condescension toward man, He also took an oath. And the author of Hebrews tells us that God did this, "in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast"(Hebrews 6:18-19, NASB). In His kindness, God gives us that strong encouragement that can anchor our soul in times of trouble. His love is a faithful love and that faithfulness will endure forever toward us.

What hope do you need this morning for the circumstances you are facing? In your situation, is God trustworthy? Is He firm so that you may rely on Him? Is He true and does He continue to deal faithfully with His people? Is He a sure and stable anchor upon which we may cast ourselves? In Christ, these questions can be answered with a resounding "Yes, He is!" But we are prone to forget and to doubt. That's why reading His Word regularly is essential for maintaining a hopeful countenance. We need to incorporate things throughout the day that will draw our attention back to the truth of the trustworthiness of the Lord. Songs are one way we can remind ourselves of the truth and also respond in praise to the Lord. After each prayer suggestion, I have included a link to a song from which I took some of the wording to pray. Let's pray Psalm 117 resting in the steadfast love and faithfulness of the Lord.

Steadfast Love and Faithfulness

117:1-2 Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!

Let's pray:
▫️ Faithful Father, I know that You are a covenant keeping God and You are faithful to all Your promises. I can look back on my life and through Your word and see that time and time again You have proven that You do just what You have said. Right now, I am facing _____, and it feels overwhelming to me, but I want to remain steadfast, trusting in You. Great is Your faithfulness to me, even in this. I believe that in love You have placed me here and Your love will see me through (Promises—Aaron Moses).
▫️Lord, You have given my faith a firm foundation in Your Word. You have made many promises to me and I have fled to Jesus as a refuge for my soul. Help me not to fear or be dismayed today but to remember that You are with me and will give me aid. I trust that You will strengthen me, help me, and cause me to stand; You will uphold me by Your righteous, omnipotent hand. Even as I go through these deep waters and fiery trials, the rivers of sorrow will not overflow me. Your grace will be sufficient and You will be my supply. You will bless these troubles I am passing through and will sanctify them to me. You are refining my faith so that it may come forth as gold. I am leaning on You today. I know You will not desert me and You will never forsake me (How Firm a Foundation—T4G).
▫️Jesus, You have said that if I am thirsty, or weak, or fearful, I should come to You. This morning I am feeling _______. Help me to be satisfied in You alone. No one else can be the strength I need. You are the only shield I need in this time of trouble. You are good and faithful. You keep me day and night. I can always run to You, Jesus. You are strong and kind. Gentle and steady. Tender and unchanging. Help me to keep my eyes on You and trust that You are near to me, a very present help (Jesus Strong and Kind—Cityalight).
▫️Lord, thank You for the sure and steady anchor that I have in Christ. In this suffering and sorrow that I face, I can hold fast to Christ, my anchor, and He will hold fast to me. When I struggle with sin or unbelief, when I feel hopeless or despairing, help me to lift my eyes to Calvary and be reminded of Your great love that was proven on that cross. Help my heart to rest in that assurance and not in myself or my circumstances. Give me Your strong encouragement as I flee to You for refuge and lay hold of the hope set before me. Anchor my soul in this hope in Christ and produce in me Your steadfastness (Christ the Sure and Steady Anchor—Matt Boswell).
▫️Lord, I will trust Your steadfast love and faithfulness to me. In ________ it has been hard to see how this is good. But I will trust You. I will trust You when I am tempted to doubt and trusting You seems difficult. I will trust You when my strength is small knowing that Your strength is made perfect in my weakness. Help me to trust You more and more. On the cross, Your great love for me was seen, so I can go on trusting You, the One who died for me (I Will Trust My Savior Jesus—Cityalight ).

May the Lord do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, for His glory and our good. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Such an unshakeable, reliable, firm guarantee--such an anchor for the soul--will make us more steadfast in time. The steadfastness of Christ makes us want to be more steadfast. To not be flighty, fickle, impulsive, and momentary in our loves for what matters most, but settled and stable, fixed and firm.
David Mathis
 
‭‭Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All right reserved.



Photo credit to shotsbysophie.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Mother’s Longing

Image
A Mother’s Longing “…in your faith you are standing firm.” 2 Corinthians 1:24 It is not surprising that 3 John 4 is so often quoted by Christian parents in their deep desire for their children, “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth” (NASB). This is the deep longing of my heart as a mother. I want my children to truly know Christ, to walk in His ways, to love His Word, and to be committed to His church. I desire to be able to say to them, “in your faith you are standing firm” (2 Corinthians. 1:24). Am I being a faithful steward of my role as a Christian mother? Are my actions reflecting this deep desire to see my dearly loved children walking in the truth?  As we head into this new year, it is wise to both look back and look forward. The new year offers us many possibilities to grow and change and also to continue to persevere in the things that God, by His grace, has enabled us to carry out faithfully. If one of my deepest longings is to see ...
Read more

A Piercing that Drives Us to Our Knees

Image
A Piercing that Drives Us to Our Knees: to the mothers of the brokenhearted and the wandering Where there is a praying mother there is always hope. J.C.Ryle From the time our children are a positive line on a pregnancy test and then placed in our arms for the first time, our hearts as their mother are intricately intertwined with theirs. The first cry brings tears and joy, such inexpressible joy. And then they grow, and we love to see them exploring, learning, and developing their personalities. But the moment they come home having faced rejection for the first time, or they struggle with a mental illness that leaves us feeling deeply inadequate, or we get an email from the school that they’ve been caught cheating, each taste of sorrow and sin that they taste, we experience as well. The words spoken to Mary could be the gentle warning each mother must heed, “and a sword will pierce even your own soul”(Luke 2:35).  I’m not sure our children will understand until they become parents ...
Read more

Don’t Give Up, Mom: when mothering makes you weary

Image
  Don’t Give Up: when mothering makes you weary Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we never give up… 2 Corinthians 4:1 ESV, NLT Mothering can have seasons where weariness and discouragement lie right at the surface. Perhaps it’s a physically exhausting time, maybe spiritually you’re struggling or a child is, maybe it’s just busier than normal and it’s hard to juggle everything without feeling stressed out, or maybe it’s hard to even find a reason why you’re struggling. It can be so many little things, or big things and little things, and you just want to give up, even if only for a little while. You wish you could run away and rest, clear your mind and breathe. How can we faithfully persevere through motherhood, each of its season, and each season’s hardships?  As I studied 2 Corinthians 4:1-6, I wanted to see how Paul could say, “we never give up.” Studying this book, I have come to appreciate the tenacity of Paul and his steadfastness through so many diffic...
Read more