RSS

Enjoy Life, Enjoy God


Dale Patterson

NEVERTHELESS

January 13, 2010

"Nevertheless" is one of those big little words. Unlike "and," or "but," it has many more letters, yet it connects what it follows to a new line of thought to come, ergo, it changes much. It changes the direction of what it follows.

________________________________________
[Abijah] committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been. Nevertheless, for David's sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong.
- 1 Kings 15:3,4 TNIV
________________________________________

There it is in the middle of this thought. What "nevertheless" follows is a dismal tale of sin, disobedience, and the increasing degeneracy of the kings that followed David and Solomon. "Nevertheless" interrupts this downward spiral with a word of God's grace. As if to say, "In spite of this all," God waited patiently for faithfulness to re-emerge, God did not treat the people, and the kings as their behavior merited.

As we plunge deeper into the two books of the Kings, if it weren't for the "nevertheless" the story would be over. God spoke a "nevertheless" for us in Christ Jesus. In spite of us, his mercies surround you and me. Let us wake up not only to God's grace and generosity, but to faithful lives as his committed disciples, because of the "nevertheless."
Joyfully,

Dale Patterson