Psalm 111:9-10
“He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever – Holy and Awesome is His Name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding. To Him belongs eternal praise.”
The covenant of which the psalmist writes is the New Covenant, the one that will endure forever, not the Old Covenant. In Hebrews 8, the Old Covenant is declared to be obsolete. The important point is that God’s commandments are connected to the covenant that will last forever. The commandments are definitely not done away with the coming of the New Covenant. In this Psalm, God says that His commandments are not done away with the coming of a covenant that will last forever.
Forever does not always mean “without end” in biblical usage, but it does here. Sometimes forever means “as long as conditions exist.” In this part of Psalm 111, the psalmist is talking about a covenant, commandments, and about righteousness that endure forever.
In Luke 10:26-28, Jesus gave an explanation that includes a teaching relevant to things that last forever, “What is written in the Law?”, he replied. “How do you read it?”. He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.’ And ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ ‘. “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” We should love the Lord our God more than anything else. Nothing is to take precedence over Him, not our desires, our will, nor anything else. God is always first. We are to love God with all of our soul. We are to be ready to give up our lives to honor God, if it is required. We are to endure all types of ridicule and torment for His sake, if it falls our lot. That is part of loving God. It is our loving God with all of our strength. Whatever we possess has come from God. If we do something to physically serve God, or if we have to give our substance as living sacrifice, this, too, is just part of loving God with all of our strength.
He wants us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us, loving our neighbors as ourselves. It is self-explanatory. If we are in trouble, do we want someone to come and help us? Of course! Do we want someone to listen to us when we need someone’s ear? Of course! Do we want someone to rescue us when we find ourselves in financial difficulties? Certainly! Likewise, we should be concerned for others, as we are concerned for ourselves. These things are the things that endure forever.
