Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 28: FAITHFULNESS”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Psalm 89:1-2 I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.
One of my favorite places in the continental United States is the Avenue of the Giants in northern California. As a kid, my dad and brother and I would regularly drive up there after Easter. The trees are magnificent and awe-inspiring. The height of them is breath taking. We would tour a local sawmill and see these giant logs come out as redwood 2×4’s. Root systems from the trees sometimes would wash down the rivers, out to the ocean and then back up on shore (one year we even brought a part home.) We loved going into the redwood stores that sold tables, and clocks, and anything you could imagine out of redwood and often would come home with a piece or two to try ourselves.
Every time someone says they are traveling to the west coast, I say, “You HAVE to go down the Avenue of the Giants, get out and walk among the redwood trees. It’s an amazing experience.”
If I had never experienced the redwoods, I would have nothing, or much less, to speak about. I could say, “I heard about…” but to highly recommend and “sing the praises” of the California redwoods it comes from a place of experience.
What does this have to do with faithfulness?
The Psalmist sang from experience. He had experienced the love and faithfulness of the Lord. So he wants everyone to hear about it and experience it.
Psalm 89 is written by “Ethan the Ezrahite.” The only other reference to this person is in 1 Kings 4:31 in describing the wisdom of King Solomon, “He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations.” So we know that Ethan was a wise individual who was known to the nation of Israel and was a contemporary of King David and King Solomon. Take time to read the rest of Psalm 89 and you soon realize his words capture the ongoing reality of the Lord’s love and faithfulness to King David and to the nation of Israel.
Yet what stands out is the realty that Ethan muses about. The sons of David would not be faithful. History plays this out. However, standing in contrast to the lack of love and faithfulness in the future kings of David’s line, is the constant love and faithfulness of the Lord.
30 “If his sons forsake my law
and do not follow my statutes,
31 if they violate my decrees
and fail to keep my commands,
32 I will punish their sin with the rod,
their iniquity with flogging;
33 but I will not take my love from him,
nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. (Psalm 89:30-33)
Does this sound like you? I know it does me. All too often I forsake the laws of God and fail to keep his commands. Yet, what is amazing (even greater than the redwoods) is that God does not remove his love from me and continues to be faithful to his promise to forgive me.
Only when we experience the love and faithfulness of God, not as something we’ve earned, but something that he freely gives, will we be motivated and uninhibited in showing love and faithfulness to the people around us. Only when the love and faithfulness of the Lord impact our heart and life will we want to sing about it, speak about it, share it with all the future generations.
It’s just what we do when we see and experience something incredible…God’s love and faithfulness.
Apply: What experience in life has made God’s love and faithfulness most real to you?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for a constant show of your love and faithfulness. May I never take it for granted, but every time I experience it, find opportunity to sing about it and share it with others. AMEN.