So, How Long Is Forever?

I’ve recently finished writing a second installment of a story based on the dramatic, faith-filled lives of Wayne’s grandparents, Gabriel and Nanajan Shabaz.  It is entitled, “Gabriel in Gary”.

As I was finishing “Gabriel in Gary” I enjoyed a precious reading of Psalm 136.  As I read it aloud, which is often an effective way of reading the psalms, I saw how it dove-tailed beautifully with “GIG.”  So, here’s an introduction to the remarkable story for your reading pleasure.

There are twenty-six verses in Psalm 136 and twenty-six times the phrase, “his steadfast love endures forever” is stated.  I can’t personally vouch for “forever,” but having just gone through some very old family pictures I’ve been reminded of the testimonies of my  grandparents and great-grandparents that would declare emphatically that the “steadfast love of the Lord endures.”  So, I can say with great assurance that God’s steadfast love has endured at least since 1890.

Gratefully, the psalmist gives us more substantiation for “forever.”  After giving thanks, always a good approach to the good God of gods and Lord of lords, the writer draws attention to a few of God’s wondrous accomplishments—the heavens, the earth, the sun, moon, and stars.  All wonders I admittedly take for granted. 

Wayne and I have been taking our daily walk after dark and I’m so impressed with the beauty of the night sky.  We are in a place where there isn’t much ambient light, so the stars and moon are really all you get, and they are breath-taking.  I was particularly aware during the new phase of the moon how absolutely dark the sky and our street were.  It seemed an unusually long time (of course it wasn’t) before that waxing crescent appeared. What a difference even the smallest sliver of moon made!  Until it was missing, though, I didn’t realize how much I take the moon for granted.  I guess that is because it has been there forever.

The sun, also, is an enduring wonder, set so perfectly in the sky.  Any minor deviations in the positioning of the sun would make the earth uninhabitable. Therefore, the sun is a tangible demonstration of not only forever, but also of steadfast love.

The psalmist then recounts how God’s steadfast love endured in his interaction and provision for Israel—the exodus from Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the care of the people through the long years in the wilderness and the establishment of their own nation.  Here I joined the psalmist in personalizing God’s enduring steadfast love to my own life journey. 

He brought me out of the bondage of sin and daily keeps me from that captivity.

            His steadfast love endures forever.

The many times where there did not seem to be a positive solution to my dilemma and He made a way through and with the most unexpected, improbable circumstances.

            His steadfast love endures forever.

When I thought I would be swallowed up in my poor choices and bad decisions, He turned it all into a rich experience, one to tell the next generation.

            His steadfast love endures forever.

Living through wilderness experiences with the future unknown and the present bleak, He always provided what was needed physically and emotionally.

            His steadfast love endures forever.

Aggressive enemies of fear, disillusionment, disappointment, anxiety, and apostasy have had their distorted tongues cut out and their teeth broken in the presence of God while I remained standing and shouting:  

            His steadfast love endures forever.

I aligned my own journey with what I was reading in Psalm 136.  But also, and perhaps more notably, I thought of others who are currently butted up against a Red Sea, traversing a wilderness, living in unanticipated consequences, or taunted by the adversary of their soul. 

That brings us back to Gabriel & Nanajan. Their story is phenomenal, traumatic, faith-filled, and dramatic enough to write itself and very applicable to today’s challenges.  With resounding voices, Gabriel and Nanajan join the great cloud of witnesses declaring to us:

It is He who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever; and rescued us from our foes, for his steadfast love endures forever; He who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Are you ready to see how this truth was demonstrated so powerfully in and through Gabriel & Nanajan Shabaz? Let me know and I’ll be honored to share a link to “Gabriel in Gary” with you. If you also want “Nanajan” which gives the backstory for “Gabriel in Gary” I’ll send that along as well.