“I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail.” (Ps. 89:28)
Expanded Passage: Psalm 89:19-29
My wife’s father over many years restored and kept numerous antique cars. He was an artist when it came to taking piles of rusty sheet metal and mouse-infested upholstery and turning it into MGB sports cars and Chevrolet Corvairs. He specialized in Ford Model T’s and Model A’s. He recently gave us a 1929 Ford Model A Tudor, which will turn anyone’s head—young or old—to follow it down the street. But a car that is almost 100 years old requires maintenance or it will fail. Regardless of what its restorer claims, a Model A Ford may outlast us, but it won’t run forever.
God has given his chosen people a king, but more important, this king represents God’s continued love to the nation forever, a promise kept. The anointed kingship of David is eventually to be perfected in the person of Jesus Christ. God will sustain his covenant by his arm and by his strength. It is not for us to maintain this covenant. Our personal relationships—marriages and friendships—must be fostered and cared for or they will be in danger of dying. But God offers us a love that is without end.
The Lord has promised to be our God forever. He has made a pact that he will maintain his love and that his relationship with us will not fail. It just keeps chugging along.
Watch how God maintains a relationship with you that does not fail.
Rich Eckley is professor emeritus of theology at Houghton University (NY). He is an ordained Wesleyan minister, and enjoys—with his wife Lynn—entertaining their active grandchildren.
© 2025 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
