To a Thousand Generations

Know therefore that the LORD your God, he is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. Deuteronomy 7:9 (NIV)

I believe it is safe to say we have all wondered what God is like, while overlooking the witness of those who saw Him. Jesus was more than just a good man or some kind of exalted prophet. He was 100% man and 100% God. When His disciple Philip asked Him to show them God the Father, Jesus replied, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’” (Jn. 14:9). What was with that statement? Was Jesus lying? Was He insanely deluded? Or was Jesus who He claimed to be? All of our belief systems fall into one of these categories.

Despite those who deny it, Jesus Christ often, and at times openly, declared His deity throughout His ministry, but many Jews saw Him as a deceiver and blasphemer (Matt. 27:63, 26:65). They understood His meaning of saying He was God and wanted to put Him to death for it (Jn. 10:30-33).

God is Spirit (Jn 4:24), yet a real, sentient Being, able to not only perceive and understand but have feelings and emotions. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can be moved with love, compassion, and intercession for us (Psalm 18:6, Matt. 9:36. Rom. 8:26). As He could have always existed only in Spirit it was for us, He chose to reveal Himself in a very understandable way of our own human flesh.

David proved God’s goodness to him in his personal witness to the end of his life. He speaks of the LORD making firm the steps of those who delight in Him and added, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread (Ps. 37:25).

Does God answer every need as we wish? No, not in every instance but it has been my experience that He thankfully answers in His wisdom and perfect timing. 

While there have been stressful times in my own life when He was silent, He was repainting doors and oiling hinges on portals He planned on opening for me. I have even found He opened doorways for me for things I had not even asked for or expected, yet I found how perfectly that doorway had been for that situation. If things had never worked out in my estimation, I realized He had remained faithfully by my side through it.

God is gracious and loving to the thousandth generation of those who love and choose to follow His commandments. He is not limited to just a thousand generations. That number just gives a bit of perspective to His unlimited and compassionate love. His loving kindness for you will continue throughout eternity, into a world without end.

For those hungry for Him the Father gives the Bread of Life in His Son, Christ Jesus (Jn. 6:35). For those dying of thirst in the world’s desert of doubt and despair He gives the Water of Eternal Life so we will have no need to thirst after those things any longer (Jn. 4:13, 7:37-38). He loves you in all His glorious attributes. They are so vast they cannot all be named. He is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord our Provider, providing your needs and not necessarily your wants, keeping His loving covenant to you to the thousandth generation and beyond.

Maranatha,  

Ken