“Praise the Lord! He is good. God’s love never fails.” (Psalm 136:1, CEV) There are twenty six verses in this Psalm, and each one ends with “God’s love never fails.” The Holy Spirit never wasted ink or paper when He inspired men to pen the Scriptures. Whenever He repeats a word or phrase, it is for emphasis and reflection. We live in a fast paced world, but the Lord did not want us to fly through this passage in Psalms and miss the message. God’s love NEVER fails!
God’s love is similar to velvet. He alone can catch us when we fail in life and give us a soft landing. His love is neither judgmental or distant, cold or artificial. It is as beautiful as a rainbow and as refreshing as a late evening rain in the hot summer time. Many people have grown up thinking God is holding a belt over their head and is ready to harshly discipline them. His love is tender, and He knows that we are but ‘clay’ and that without His mercy we can do nothing. We all need a fresh vision of seeing the Lord as a place where we find rest and comfort because of His great love.
We can also liken the Lord to steel. He is firm and unchanging, strong and enduring. Whenever we face opposition to our faith, He becomes the metal behind our confidence and resolve of will. Through the Holy Spirit the Lord gives us the courage and boldness to stand in the midst of secular opposition. When Satan comes to condemn us or attempt to bring shame or regrets over our past sins and failures, Jesus is our firm foundation to stand free from the enemy’s lies and schemes.
We all face difficult and challenging times in our life. It could be our health or troubling relationships. It could be our children or our employers. Hardships come in all forms and to all people. In fact, it is through our times of trials that we get to see the depth of our faith. Our spiritual life is placed on display by the way we ‘react’ to difficult settings. It is an open class demonstration of our maturity. We get to see ourselves clearly, and we get to see the areas that need improvement.
We live in a cynical day and age. Politics is sour, churches are abandoning the Christian stand of morality, and people are giving themselves over to idols of pleasure and entertainment. We see a generation of young adults that look like a deer caught in the headlights of a car—looking for something deeper, something lasting, something real. Many do not know that ‘something’ is Jesus. And the way they will see is by our stance in these troubling days. Let us allow God to shape and mold us into His character, and then others will see a living demonstration of His grace as we become like Jesus. Like…Velvet Steel!
