Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His faithful love endures forever. ~Psalm 136:1
Longer than always is a long, long time, / But far beyond forever, you’ll be mine.
These lyrics are from a tune that was popular in the 1960s called “More.” Although it was recorded by Steve Lawrence, many vocalists and instrumental groups have since covered the tune. Because the verses went on and on about how much one person loved another, it was one of those love songs many couples adopted as their personal melody.
Because the song takes me back to my high-school days, I’m reminded of how often the words “always” and “forever” were casually used when it came to expressions of affection. In fact, thumbing through my old high-school yearbook reveals such closings as, “Love always, Cindy,” “Your forever friend, Dave,” or just plain, “Always, Larry.” I’m confident I signed many of my friends’ yearbooks the same way.
Although we weren’t intentionally lying, what we knew about “always” and “forever” at sixteen or seventeen was about as much as we knew about life itself—very little.
My grandfather, an artisan with words, used sonnets and poems when he wrote most of his love letters to the woman who became my grandmother. He signed these treasures with the words, “Love forever, Monroe.”
As it turned out, my grandfather’s “forever” turned into a sixty-five-year romance with Susie, ending with her death in 1975. Before his own step into eternity, death at age ninety-nine, this love affair led to nine children, thirty-five grandchildren, and countless great-grandchildren—including six great-great-grandchildren. Since grandpa’s death, the family has continued to proliferate at breakneck speed. Reunions are held in arenas to squeeze them all in. When my grandfather wrote “Love forever,” he meant it.
Today’s psalm includes one line that’s repeated twenty-six times: “His faithful love endures forever.” Preceding this line are short statements recounting God’s faithfulness to His people down through the centuries. And of course, even though this was penned thousands of years ago, it could include history up through—and including—yesterday. God’s faithful love lasts forever.
When you and I think of “always” and “forever” love, we cannot afford to let our minds wander back to high school where the words were forgotten before the ink was dry. We can’t even afford to think of the great examples of lifelong love, like Monroe and Susie’s. “Always” and “forever” are . . . well . . . they’re always and forever. As “forever” as it was, even Monroe and Susie’s love for each other came to an end.
When we consider that God’s love hangs on even more tenaciously than Monroe and Susie’s, through all past and future eternity, it should have a profound effect on us. God loved us before there was time, and this will never stop.
It’s as though this psalm is a personal note to you and me:
I love you.
Always,
God.
These are words we can count on.