Aug 31

Aug 31 From Everlasting to Everlasting

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:1

Only thirteen words comprise Psalm 136:1 but so much is packed in that one verse. His love endures forever. Forever, eternal, everlasting, enduring, perpetual, endless. What exactly does that mean? It’s hard to comprehend because everything I see around me is temporal.

Hours, minutes, seconds. Days, weeks, seasons, years. They all keep passing day after day. Growing cycles come and go and come back again. We get older. The things we used to think were cool won’t even sell at a garage sale. Remember 8-track tapes and bell-bottom jeans?

Have you ever kept a favorite shirt or pair of jeans so long it was threadbare and full of holes? My shoes get worn and dirty fairly quickly because I walk a lot. God’s word tells us even heaven and earth will one day wear out like an old piece of clothing (Psalm 102:26).

God gives us a glimpse of what eternity is like in Deuteronomy. He reminded the Israelites that he had cared for them for forty years in the wilderness. During the forty years I led you through the desert, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet (Deuteronomy 29:5). In Deuteronomy 8, He adds that their feet didn’t swell in all those years of walking. I think that would be even better than my shoes not wearing out!

What will last forever?