God's Loyal Love

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loyal love endures. Give thanks to the God of gods, for his loyal love endures. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his loyal love endures, to the one who performs magnificent, amazing deeds all by himself, for his loyal love endures," (Psalm 136:1-4 New English Translation).

I've been reading through the Bible using the New English Translation this time and I ran across this different wording that caught my interest: "his loyal love endures." This is used in place of "His love endures forever," most commonly found in other translations. The American Heritage Dictionary defines loyal as: steadfast in allegiance or faithful. I take this to mean that God's loyal love endures means He is steadfast in allegiance to us or faithful to us.

Doesn't that make us think about how important or valued we are in God's sight and His love? I'd say most commonly we are loyal to our spouse, our boss, or our faith. I think this translation, "his loyal love endures" brings out that God is loyal to us with His love forever. God is faithful in loving us. God is steadfast in His allegiance to His beloved ones. God's love is loyal to us forever.

Perhaps as we consider this phrase it will deepen our understanding of how much God loves us. That is a good thing. God loves us loyally. "His loyal love endures."

Lord God, we are so thankful that your loyal love endures. We are thankful that you will always be faithful to us, loving us through our sins, forgiving us and still loving us. Thank you God that we can depend on you always. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.