My husband and I have been married for over 30 years and have been blessed with the opportunity to participate in a number of marriage enrichment seminars, retreats, and conferences, all aimed at strengthening our relationship.  A significant portion of these has focused on the importance of clear, honest, respectful communication as one of many tools for building a stronger marriage.  As these conversation pointers emerge, one guidepost often suggested is to avoid the use of "absolute" words like "never," "always," and "every" as the claims that follow are seldom 100% true.

• You NEVER call when you are gong to be late.
• You ALWAYS criticize my family.
• EVERY time you shop, you ignore our budget limitations.

Feel free to mentally add your own contributions from conversations you've experienced.

You can almost feel the tension in those absolute accusations.  And while the tone is much more loving, we often fail at even our best attempts at "nevers" and "always."  Our vows to...

• ALWAYS put you first.
• Listen EVERY time you speak
• NEVER let my eyes stray to anyone else

...fall at our human feet in failure with even our best attempts.

So all of this may leave us feeling a bit skeptical about a promise that contains two "nevers" and one "every."  That's a lot of opportunities to fail in just a few words.  Yet this one is different.  Look at this promise:

Contrasted with our own mortal failings, God's faithfulness is constant, secure, and dependable.  He will not fail, so we can safely trust in Him.

So, it is no wonder that the very next verse proclaims:

The idea behind "portion" is sustenance or inheritance.  Te writer is proclaiming the Lord God as the One who will uphold and sustain us.  So the "therefore" or "so what" is a logical step:  "Therefore I will hope in Him."  What better depiction of that inheritance than through our weekly remembrance of the sacrifice He made in sending His Son to die for us?  It is through Jesus that we can have hope of the inheritance to come and through Him, God's love and mercy freely flow down upon His children.  His love and mercies are renewed daily, every day.  He sustains us securely in Him.  We can safely trust in His ability to keep His absolute promises.

Can you think of anyone else you can always trust to never fail every day?  Human beings?  No?  Yeah, me either.  The Father and Son form a solid, unmatched foundation on which we can rest.

"The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,

to the soul who seeks Him." 

Leviticus 3:25

Thank you, Lord, for NEVER failing to love us EVERY day.

Need a few good absolutes in your life?  Try Him!

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Thanks for reading.

Rachel

Rachel Welborn