Over the last few posts, I’ve been talking about God’s love. If we’re to love Him, we must first know His love.
So far, I’ve talked about some general aspects of His love. The Lord blesses us, He sows His Word in us, He disciplines us, and He gives Himself for us.
Today, I want to take it to a higher level. True love desires fellowship and sharing. But there has to be a commitment of sharing.
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
Deuteronomy 7:9 NIV
This is the first time in Scripture that the term, covenant of love, is used. We know that we serve a God of covenant. The fact is that entering into covenant is God’s desire.
The Lord doesn’t just talk about love. He wants a commitment to love. That’s why His faithfulness is emphasized in this verse.
That word, faithful, literally means firmness or certainty, like the arms of a parent holding a helpless infant. His faithfulness is long-lasting. 1000 generations, which equals about 20,000 years. That’s much longer than I need to worry about!
The problem is that in our society, we don’t understand covenant. We do agreements and contracts. These are based upon unfaithfulness and mistrust. If I don’t put it in writing, I have no guarantee you’ll fulfill your part in this.
A covenant, on the other hand, is based upon faithfulness and trust. You don’t enter covenant with someone, unless you know the one you are covenanting with. I have to unconditionally trust the one I’m in covenant with.
Job had it right.
Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.
Job 13:15 NIV
That’s quite a statement of faith. He didn’t have the Bible like we do. Yet this was Job’s way of saying,”I don’t understand what’s happening to me. But, if God himself stood before me right now and took my life, I would die trusting Him.”
I look at that and then I think about how we react to God sometimes.
“God, I tithed this week, where’s the money I asked you for?”
We don’t really seem to understand love based upon covenant.
And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
1 Samuel 18:3 NIV
You have to understand that Jonathan and David were old army buddies. They had fought together. They knew that they had each other’s back. Their covenant formalized that bond. Men don’t think it’s “manly” to admit this bond today.
Historically, covenants were made for different reasons. Sometimes for mutual protection. Sometimes to increase their wealth, families joined in covenant.
But, ours is a covenant of love that we’re talking about. We’ve stuck together through victory and defeat. So, we want to officially declare our commitment to each other’s welfare.
This is the type of covenant that God is speaking about. He wants us to understand His commitment to us. It’s very important that we understand this concept. So, I’ll continue to explain more about it in the next few posts.
Question: How have you seen God’s faithfulness in your life?
© 2026 Nick Zaccardi
The Spirit and the Word 