Steadfast Love

September 3, 2026 nofearlindaLeave a comment

Thinking about God’s characteristic of Steadfast Love brings hope and assurance to my heart. The concept of having steadfast love is something we as humans cannot attain. As much as we try to love others with steadfastness- a love that shows loyalty, unswerving devotion and commitment, immovable love that is not subject to change- we cannot. It is not in our nature to be able to be able to do this -BUT God is totally capable of loving us with steadfast love. We know from scripture that God does not lie or change his mind. Numbers 23:19 “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” We can count on God’s unchanging character to assure that His steadfast love is always true.

God’s steadfast love has some interesting aspects and scripture gives us some insight into this type of love.

Psalm 86:5 “For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.” Here we have assurance that God’s steadfast love is available to all who ask for it, and it comes from His great goodness and forgiving nature.

Psalm 117:1-2 “Praise the Lord, all nations!
Extol him, all peoples!
²For great is his steadfast love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord!” Here we are assured that God’s steadfast love is aimed right at us and given towards us. What a powerful image of His love directed exactly towards us even though we are sinners. I am reminded of the truth of Romans 5:8-9 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”

Psalm 118:1 “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!” The previous verse also touched on the fact that God’s steadfast love is eternal. He is eternal and all his characteristics are also eternal! Psalm 90:1-2 proclaim God’s eternality, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. ²Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Being eternal we can count on His steadfast love always being available and pointed towards us.

Psalm 107 and Psalm 136 are whole psalms about the steadfast love of God. The rhythm of Psalm 136 always makes me smile. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
²Give thanks to the God of gods,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
³Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
    for his steadfast love endures forever; ⁴to him who alone does great wonders,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
⁵to him who by understanding made the heavens,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;…. You cannot read the entirety of this psalm, or even a portion, without smiling over God’s steadfast love for us!

As I looked farther into God’s steadfast love, I saw examples throughout scripture of evidence of this type of love He promises towards us. Here are a few of the characters I found where God showed His steadfast love as an example for us to reference, learn from and depend upon as they relate to us as humans!

Joseph- Genesis 39:21“But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” Joseph had some hard times and God stayed right there with him!

Job – Job 10:12 “You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.” Job suffered mightily for the Lord and was preserved though it all.

David- 2 Samuel 2:5-7 “David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him. ⁶Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing. ⁷Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.” David waited 14 years to be anointed king and did not take Saul’s life even when he had the opportunity but waited for God’s timing. God showed love to David again and again!

Ezra- Ezra 7:27-28 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, ²⁸and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me. God turned the hearts of the pagan king so that Ezra could return with people to Jerusalem. Only with God was this possible!

Man is not capable of the full steadfastness and faithfulness of God, but God grants the idea and desire for us to strive to love others with this kind of godly love. Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to think and act this way. 2 Thessalonians 1:2-4 “We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, ³remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,” In and through Jesus, we have the hope of Christ and His steadfast love within us towards others! Thank you Jesus.

Later in his letter to Timothy, Paul confides in Timothy the solidness of pursing godly attributes in our lives. 1 Timothy 6:11 “But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.” James tells us of the great need for this in our character to be able to walk with Jesus and stand the test of the trials that come with faith. James 1:12 “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” I love the fact that James tells us perusing steadfastness of character comes with blessings from God. This is such an encouragement.

I pray that this study of steadfast love helps you to see how even though we are sinners we too through Christ can have steadfast love and character in Him. Because Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, I can know, experience and live with God’s steadfast love in me. It is His love that shines out to others to draw them to Him!

Linda

Sovereign, Most High God

March 30, 2026 nofearlindaLeave a comment

One of the lifechanging names of God for me was El Elyon or The Most High God, Sovereign God. I did not really grasp the Sovereignty of God until I read the Old Testament. Woven in the stories of their trials, tribulations and rebellions against God, I saw how God watched over all and was always in control, Sovereign. How do we know that God is always in control? Scripture gives us many examples so that we can know it is a truth about God’s nature and character. It is a truth we cand depend upon.

To start us off, I want to use Psalm 91:1-2. Here the Psalmist points us to the Most High God who is our protector as He holds us within His sheltered wings! “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
²I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

The Kings of Judah were not all followers of the Most High God but here are the prayers of David, Solomon and Josephat which point us towards the Most High Sovereign God. King David’s prayer before the assembled Israelites at the dedication of Solomon as king. 1 Chronicles 29:10-13 “Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. ¹¹Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. ¹²Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. ¹³And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.” David recognized the true power and majesty of God and how all belongs to Him.

Solomon prayed before after bringing the ark into the temple. 1 Kings 8:21-23 “Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, ²³and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart;” I love the acknowledgement of God’s sovereign control of all above and on and under the earth, and His steadfast love for those who follow Him.

Here King Jehoshaphat prayed before a battle and beseeched God to give them victory. 2 Chronicles 20:5-6 “And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, ⁶and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.” He knew that if God was with them they could not be defeated! He knew that God was bigger than their enemies and was in control.

Isaiah 45:7 speaks of God revealing Himself and His sovereignty, “I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.”

Jesus also reveals God’s sovereignty in regard to those who follow Him. John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” I love these verses and take great comfort in know that God has me and no one or nothing can take me away from Sovereign God.

Paul makes a plea to the Athenians in his speech to their ‘unknown’ God in Acts 17:24-27 “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, ²⁵nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. ²⁶And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, ²⁷that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,” They were not aware of Jesus and Paul was making him known to them in a very clever way so that they would see the truth of Sovereign God.

There are so many wonderful scriptures that describe the truth of our Sovereign God. Because Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, I can call upon Sovereign God praising Him for his provision, protection and steadfast love towards me.

Linda

Second Sunday of Lent, Trust God for Answers

March 1, 2026 nofearlindaLeave a comment

We have seen such wonderful names of God this first full week of Lent. Rewarder, Forgiver, Promise Keeper, Light, Righteousness and Everlasting, each of these give us hope, thoughts to bring to God in prayer and repentance. Here is a continuation of the Psalm we started last Sunday, 103:11-19.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; How big is your God’s love?
¹²as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us. Do you trust Him to thoroughly remove your sins?
¹³As a father shows compassion to his children,
    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. Do you allow God to show you compassion?
¹⁴For he knows our frame;
    he remembers that we are dust. Do you trust Him to number your days justly?

¹⁵As for man, his days are like grass;
    he flourishes like a flower of the field;
¹⁶for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, God knows were are fleeting.
    and its place knows it no more.
¹⁷But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
    and his righteousness to children’s children, God covers us with his Love and righteousness.
¹⁸to those who keep his covenant
    and remember to do his commandments.
¹⁹The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, God wins and has an eternal home for us.
    and his kingdom rules over all.

Because Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, I can know all things are Yes in Jesus and I can trust Him with all my questions. May your prayers be rich today and lead you to a deeper relationship with Him.

Linda

Steadfast Love

September 5, 2025 nofearlindaLeave a comment

Today passage in the Pleasing God series comes from Micah 7:18 and speaks of God’s character. He has a character that we can depend upon each and every day.

“Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
    and passing over transgression
    for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
    because he delights in steadfast love.

God does not delight in sin at all and is grieved over the sin that is manifested in our lives and the sin that is present in this world. He is not passive about sin and scripture says sin angers God. Romans 1:18 speaks forcefully about God’s attitude towards sin. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” God shows his anger or wrath towards mankind when they delve into sinful ways and refuse to turn to Him. The children of Israel were taken into captivity in Babylon for their sinfulness even though they were repeatedly warned by the prophets to repent and change their ways. They refused to return to God and thus suffered the consequences.

However, just as God promised to rescue the Israelites after 70 years and return them to Israel, God’s anger does not remain forever because He delights in steadfast love. The Bible repeatedly tells us that God’s love is steadfast. We know that God is love. 1 John 4:8 “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” Steadfast means fixed in place and immoveable, not subject to change. His love is rooted in His character and is always immutable and unwavering. Here are some affirming scriptures on the immutability of God: 1 Samuel 15:29 “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.” Psalm 33:11 “But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” James 1:17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

It should be of great comfort to us that God delights to show us His love. The Micah passage continues and explains ways that God shows his delight and love towards us.
¹⁹“He will again have compassion on us;
    he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
    into the depths of the sea.
²⁰You will show faithfulness to Jacob
    and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
    from the days of old.”

God reveals His love in His compassion, forgiveness, and faithfulness but most of all in how He deals with our sin. He promises to cast our sins into the deepest sea. Only God can remove our sins so it is not a part of us anymore. Our faith in Jesus allows this miracle to happen in our lives.

This blog focused on God’s delight of steadfast love instead of what we can do to bring delight to God. Knowing that God delights to show us His steadfast love, how can that change your thinking and attitudes towards God and others? Knowing God loves with steadfast endurance should help us to focus on what God sees in our actions and words as we interact with those around us. Jesus summed up where our loving focus should be in Matthew 22:37-40, “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Make loving God and others your goal and it will lead you to pleasing God!

Linda