Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.--Psalm 100
Isaiah 54:4-10
When I read that God turned his back on Israel, but "only for a moment," it fills me with hope that, even though God might become angry enough with me to turn his back, he will always turn back around and present his face to me. He won't give up on this relationship. I love the last couple of phrases in this passage; "For even if the mountains walk away and the hills fall to pieces, my love won't walk away from you, my covenant commitment of peace won't fall apart." The point here is that it is more impossible for God's love to walk away from us than for the mountains to get up and physically walk away.
It's hard to envision a commitment that won't fall apart, especially in 2008. My wife and I have been married over 22 years, now. That's a pretty long time. And it's a pretty solid commitment. There have been times of great struggle, twice almost falling apart. There have been other times of minor struggle. Even this commitment is fragile. Much more fragile than God's commitment to us. But I tell you (perhaps as Robert Heinlein wrote frequently in Stranger in a Strange Land, "I tell you three times") it is God's commitment to us (which will never fall apart) that keeps our commitment to each other strong. Looking back to a passage that we read in Ecclesiastes a short while back, "a strand of three cords is not easily broken." Those three are my wife, me, and God, personified in the person of Jesus Christ.
It's with lasting love that I'm tenderly caring for you.
Grace and peace, friends.