Stick with Me

05.24.13

Psalm 136.26 26 Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.
(ESV)

Today in my reading: 1 Kings 9, 2 Chronicles 8, Psalm 136, and Romans 5 the word endures or endurance shows up a couple times. Additionally the theme of endurance shows up as well. Endurance is underrated. My brother always asks me, when I’ve come across some song or recording of old rock and roll, is it enduring? Meaning: is it just as entertaining today as it was back when we thought it was so cool and we felt we couldn’t live without it?

Usually the novelty wears off pretty quick.

But God appeared to Solomon and said: And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. (1 Kings 9.4-7 ESV) In other words: Solly, stick with Me.

And Psalm 36 is crescendo after crescendo of “…for his steadfast love endures forever.” A reminder of just how vast is the love of God and how enduring. Stick with Me.

And Paul said, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5.3-5 ESV) Stick with me.

I vacillate; I get tired; I get bored, I get afraid; I get distracted – endurance is fleeting for me at times, and more often than I want to admit. But today I remember it isn’t so much about my endurance as it is the Love of God that endures. I may be weak (I am) but He is always so strong and He hasn’t called me to do this life all on my own, but to depend on Him every step of every moment that comes my way. Stick with God Paul.

Today, I am to stick with Him and the sunshine of His love even when the clouds of my weakness roll past.

Father, I cannot do this on my own but I am grateful for this: [Your] steadfast love endures forever. Today I meet whatever comes my way asking not for power or might but Your Spirit to help me to remember that endurance is not about me but about You. Thank You that your steadfast love endures forever… Amen.