Who's Your Father?: Returning to the Love of the Biblical God

by Robert Bernecker

We read in Psalm 138:8 that “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.” What a fantastic statement! Yet again, we see the Father’s steadfast love tied to the certainty of the fulfillment of his purpose. This should be an incredible source of strength and encouragement for our lives. Instead, in a remarkable exhibition of human presumption, we seem to be quite happy to turn this verse upside down. The verse, if stated to match what is taught, preached, and believed by many today, would read more like this: “I must seek to fulfill the Lord’s purpose for me; your love endures as long as I am steadfast enough and earnest enough in seeking after fulfilling this purpose.” However, this is an inexplicable transposition because that is not what the verse says! The verse could not be clearer; it is the Lord that does the fulfilling of his purpose, not us. He will complete the good work that he initiated (Philippians 1:6) with his steadfast love.