Sometimes when you’re making a purchase, one of the elements you consider is the guarantee. For other things, the guarantee just doesn’t make that much difference.
If you buy any electronics item at Walmart stores in the United States, they will offer you a two-year warranty for an extra fee. I was recently buying an item for about $30. When I went to check out they asked me if I wanted to spend an extra four dollars to have a two-year guarantee. I declined. Willing to manage that risk all by myself, thank you.
One of the holsters that I purchased recently has something called a forever warranty. The company promises that if anything on the holster ever breaks for any reason they will repair or replace it for free. Forever! I thought that was a pretty good deal.
Believe it or not, I actually have some patriotic T-shirts that are guaranteed against EVERYTHING for life. Their guarantee says, “Yup. Everything. For any reason. Including tears, holes, loose threads, beer stains – even blood stains from defending the American flag.” To be sure, they are pretty safe in the beer department for me; that’s not a beverage I drink. I wonder if they cover wine stains? Yeah, probably.
The point is that sometimes the guarantee is just part of the marketing, sometimes the guarantee is absolutely essential.
Today’s verse says THE LORD IS GOOD! HIS FAITHFULNESS WILL LAST FOREVER.
Is it great that the verse doesn’t promise that God‘s love and faithfulness will last for at least one year! That would not be much of a guarantee. I’m also glad that John 3:16 doesn’t promise that God so loved the world that He sent His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him GETS TEN MORE CHANCES TO BE PERFECT. That wouldn’t be much of a promise. It probably wouldn’t cover me until noon. (If you’re not familiar with the REAL promise of John 3:16, it actually promises that whoever believes in Jesus WILL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE. A much better guarantee, I think you’ll agree.)
God’s love and faithfulness will last forever. His guarantee is better than a lifetime guarantee, because it goes well beyond our lifetime on earth. It is the ultimate “forever guarantee.”
The Lord is good. His word is good. His promises are good. Everything about God is good. And I am convinced that, even when it doesn’t appear to be good, it is.
I believe that if we knew everything God knows about any given situation, we would look at His actions and judge them to be good. I trust this because His word says the Lord is good.
And His promise that his love and faithfulness will last forever is a promise we can rely upon.
As we prepare in the United States for the holiday that we call Thanksgiving, a time to lay aside work and deliberately give thanks for all of our blessings, one of the greatest blessings is that God‘s love and faithfulness will last forever.
That’s a guarantee you can rely upon.
