The everlasting covenant of God with us is not just for everyone. That may seem a bit of a strong statement and one may be asking, then what is it about God that He is not here for everyone, isn’t He all about love for everyone. Well, yes He loves everyone and He is here for everyone, but, there is a catch, He has to be accepted by you. He loves you. Although for you to experience that love, you have to accept Him and the love He has for you.

“³Incline your ear, and come to me;

hear, that your soul may live;

and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,

my steadfast, sure love for David.”

— Isaiah 55:3 (ESV)

I see here that the God gives of himself to me constantly. He is always there providing for my needs. I only need to accept Him in order to receive. I have to reach out and take possession of what He is giving in order to benefit from it. I am not simply given everything I could want. I have to take some action to actually receive. That action is minimal (accepting), but it is action I need to take none the less.

I think of all the times I was in need and think back to my actions to receive assistance with those needs, did I come to receive help? I may have come to speak of the need and to exclaim that there was a need, but I am not sure that I came with a mindset of actually receiving assistance. I may have wanted others to know of my need and blame them for not providing for the need, but may not have been of the heart to actually receive the help with the need.

Too often I believe that we are of the same mindset when it comes to our relationship with God. We want everyone to hear of our “relationship” and yet we are reluctant to actually putting anything into the relationship. We exclaim that we are in need, yet are not really of the mindset to accept the help that is offered, mainly because it does not fit into what we expect to be the offer of help and it does not fully reverse the situation.

Come to God and He will always provide. It may not be exactly what I envisioned or thought I should be receiving, but He will provide. And when He does, I have to accept the help from Him and know that it comes from the love He has for me and His desire to see me in glory with Him. When I come to God and accept what He has for me, I will receive the everlasting commitment from Him to care for me, to love me, to provide for me at every instance in my life. I may not receive that which I believe to be the answer to the need, but I will receive the answer to my need from His hand and with love, forever.

What is your expectation as to that which comes from God? Are you accepting that which He provides? What if you come to God with open arms to receive the everlasting (eternal) commitment from Him to you?

This morning I was reminded and really thought about that Jesus came from eternity and will be here through eternity and is named for eternity as well.

“⁶For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”

— Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV)

Above is the announcement of the names of Jesus even before He was born. The one name that stuck out to me this morning was that of “Everlasting Father” since I am currently studying the word “everlasting”. I was reminded that not only was the Trinity here before all and will be here after all, but His name is demonstrating that to all.

I have the confidence in the Lord based on His love for me and the guidance and comfort He supplies for me. But I also can have confidence in knowing that He is here for me and was here for me and will be here for me, not only in the sense of providing, but also in the sense of name and recognition.

With God being here prior to me, you may have known Him before me. I came to Him as soon as I could and will be with Him always, even if I happen to fall away from time to time. He will always be with me, and was with me even before I knew Him and He will be with all even after I have joined Him in glory. I will say that all of this was known even before I or you were. Notice again the names of Jesus even before he was born: “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”. Pay particular attention to the third name in the string, “Everlasting Father”. That name means eternity and that is before and after and during our existence here in this world.

What name do you know God by? Are you in concert with all of the names of God? What if you dug into the name “Everlasting Father” to know that He was, is, and always will be?