For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. – Psalm 100:5

Today's Scripture Reading (August 23, 2022): Psalm 100

I used to play golf if what I used to do could be termed playing golf. Now I lack the time and the money to pursue the sport. And to a certain extent, I also lack the motivation to play. The problem with golf is that it is a sport you must be regularly involved in to get better at it. That principle applies to almost every aspect of our lives, but the results are possibly a little more apparent in the game of golf. There was a time when I tried to get out on the golf course a few times a week. When I could play that regularly, I felt that I was improving. But as soon as I could not maintain that level of commitment to the game, my golf proficiency almost immediately began to slide backward.

The secret to the game of golf is actually consistency. And that little secret is also why the game can be so frustrating. When I was playing well, I can remember stretches when I would be able to play a few holes of golf under par. But then, seemingly without reason, my game would deteriorate. Suddenly, my drives were no longer hitting the fairway, my chips were missing the green, and my putts never went toward that hole at which I was aiming. Far from the pars and birdies that I had started the game with, it was now a good thing if I could even bogey a hole, and often even that task was simply out of reach. But the nagging feeling remained, I could really be good at this game if I could only find a way to be more consistent.

The Psalmist clearly places a note of thanksgiving in this psalm because "God is good." What that little word "good" really means is that God is "consistent." He works out of a character that never changes. As much as we might want to argue otherwise, what God views as right, he has always declared right. And what he despises, he has always despised. The Psalmist follows up the idea of the consistency of God with an example – "his love endures forever." Because God is consistent, and one of the key areas of this consistency is found in his love, his love can be applied to us in every circumstance and every time. It does not matter in the eyes of God what has transpired before. Israel may have wandered away from God, but God had never walked away from Israel, and God had never stopped loving the nation he had chosen to use as his messengers to the human race. The promise that God made to Abraham was still in force.

It is a promise that we need to recognize today. If we serve a good or a consistent God, he still loves the people of his promise. Israel still stands in his favor, as do the descendants of Ishmael and, by faith and adoption, the Christian Church. All of us stand in dependence on the goodness and consistency of God. As a result of this consistency, we stand in the knowledge that his love truly does endure forever. And God will be faithful and consistent throughout the generations.

Today's Scripture Reading: Psalm 102

See also Psalm 118:1