Pastor John D Jakes

Sometimes, theology seems dry and stale.  Take the issue of God’s eternity.  It is a great truth that God is eternal, yet don’t we sometimes treat it like mere intellectual knowledge? How are we supposed to apply the eternal nature of God?  What is it supposed to do for us? 

The psalmists knew. Psalm 117 is a beautiful picture of how we should understand the eternal nature of God. He declares that God’s eternal nature means that we can always trust what God has said! We see in Psalm 41 the great confidence of the believer in the midst of great struggle.  He knew that God’s eternal nature was not just information to be digested.  God’s eternal nature changes the very nature of life’s struggles!  We see in Psalm 103 the implication of God’s eternal nature: His love is from everlasting to everlasting!

Think about that for a moment… What type of love does God have toward us?  It is a love that has existed as long as God has existed.  It is a love that will last as long as God lasts.  It is not a fickle love.  It is an enduring love.  Are you ever tempted to think that God’s love is like ours?  Do you think that God’s love waxes and wanes with your performance?  Do you live under the constant pressure that God’s love will suddenly disappear because you haven’t been good enough? That may be how people sometimes love, but the eternal nature of God tells us that His love is different.  The Psalm says that the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.  How amazing is that!  His love is not an on again, off again kind of thing.  He is dependable.  He is trustworthy.

I read recently that God describes Himself as love (1 John 4:8, 16).  Although we can provoke Him to anger (Deuteronomy 4:25; 1 Kings 14:9; Isaiah 65:3), God is love.  He doesn’t just feel love.  He doesn’t just express love.  He is love.  This love of God is essential to His character.  It is bound up in His eternity. He has always been love. He always will be love.

Let God’s eternal nature flow over you.  The Old Testament believer did.  He trusted that nature when life was hard.  He trusted that God would always be God.  He would be love.  He would be eternal.  Believers can know that God will always be there.  He will always care for them.

Will that be your encouragement today?  Sometimes we are tempted to let our current circumstances be the lens through which we interpret the love of God. God’s eternity invites you to do the opposite: interpret your current circumstance through the enduring reality that God is love. Will you let God’s eternal nature reinforce for you the knowledge that God’s love will always be there for you?  Will you live in that love today?

Something to think about,

Pastor John