Your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness. Ps 26:3
Conscious awareness of God is a ministry of the Holy Spirit. From our side it evidences itself as a gentle faith that calls to mind and recognizes God’s presence with us. What is the connection between living with a sense of God’s love and “walking in faithfulness”? (compare Eph 3:16-19 with Eph 4:1-3)
All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. Ps 25:10
With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down. Ps 18:25-27
We could add the words “perceived to be” between the words “are” and “steadfast love” to give the sense of Ps. 25:10. In other words, we become more aware of God’s activity and presence as we submit to him. The submitted one “sees” more clearly. Note this also in Ps 18:25. The opposite pattern also holds true—God seems dark and crooked to the person who is wrong inside (see Ps 18:26). Ps 18:27 gives us the root cause of this. The proud man never sees God accurately.
But you, O GOD my Lord, deal on my behalf for your name’s sake; because your steadfast love is good, deliver me! Ps 109:21
Here we find two very effective ways to pray:
Appeal to God’s honor (see Duet 9:26-28)
Appeal to God’s character
The word “because” indicates the Psalmist gave God reasons why he should answer his prayer. What is the connection between God’s goodness and his deliverance in this passage? When we face times that we are tempted to doubt God’s goodness, how can contemplating his great salvation help us perceive God’s goodness once again?
I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. Our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Ps 13:5 & Ps 33:21
According to these verses, what is the most direct pathway to joy? Why do you think this is true? What is the obvious (or not so obvious) correlation between these two? Anxiety is one of the thieves of joy. Notice how 1 Peter 5:6-7 presents the same solution as these verses to dispelling worry from our lives.
Now may the LORD show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. 2 Sam 2:6
Wondrously show your steadfast love. & Ps 17:7
Have you ever prayed for God to show steadfast love and faithfulness to others in your life? Have you ever spoken this blessing over your children using these words? It honors God for his steadfast love to be seen and on display.
The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Exod 34:6
Note the first characteristic about himself that God chooses to make known. What is significant about this? Why do you think God added the word “abounding” to the already power packed word “steadfast love”? God wants us to know something about Himself that we find difficult to fully believe. He is extravagant in his love. Lavish and generous beyond belief! This is our God.
Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now. Num 14:19
Pardon for sin is never given without a heart of love and mercy behind it. So it is with God toward us. So it is with us toward others. The heart ready to forgive never appears out of nowhere. There is always a powerful love behind it.
Who is this prayer for? What is the significance of the words “according to”? What is the significance of the word “greatness”? Have you ever prayed like this for your family? For your church? For your family of churches?
O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. Ps. 130:7
What is presented here as the parallel to God’s steadfast love? What is the relationship between God’s love and the word “plentiful”? What does this reveal to us about God that we are often slow to believe?
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Psalms 90:14
It is not enough to be informed intellectually about God’s love. We need to know its goodness in our souls—to savour its goodness. What is missed from our lives when we don’t relish and enjoy the goodness of his love? (see verse 14b) According to this verse, how does one become satisfied with God’s love? Note God’s part and our part in this experience.
By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. Psalms 42:8
This verse is part of two Psalms that go together- Psalms 42 & 43. They express the anguish of a believer who has lost the sense of God’s presence and favour in their life.
What we find here is that “God is omnipresent in a poem that complains of his absence, and ironically, the pain of separation is a way of feeling the presence” John Goldingay, Psalms Vol 2, p.34
Here is a command of God rarely considered. A command FOR his children. Are you aware of specific ways that this love is being shown in your life? What is the effect of this awareness? (see verse 8b)
“His song” is another way of expressing the joy of the Holy Spirit—that faith-sense of God’s delight in his children. Could it be that the absence of joy in our life is not because of a lack of God’s love, but because of a lack of recognition and awareness of his love?
