Exegeting the Hymns #44 - Ever Be

Ever Be
Bobby Strand, Christopher Allen Greely, Gabriel Wilson, Kalley Heiligenthal

Your love is devoted like a ring of solid gold
Like a vow that is tested like a covenant of old
And Your love is enduring through the winter rain
And beyond the horizon with mercy for today

Faithful You have been and faithful you will be
You pledge yourself to me and it's why I sing

Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips
Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips
Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips
Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips

You Father the orphan, Your kindness makes us whole
And you shoulder our weakness and your strength becomes our own
Now you're making me like you, clothing me in white
Bringing beauty from ashes for You will have Your bride

Free of all her guilt and rid of all her shame
And known by her true name and it's why I sing

You will be praised, You will be praised
With angels and saints we sing worthy are You Lord

Your love is devoted like a ring of solid gold, like a vow that is tested like a covenant of old. God’s love is devoted in that it is promised. Sometimes, our devotion to something can wane, but God’s covenant with His people is everlasting (Hebrews 13:20). And Your love is enduring through the winter rain, and beyond the horizon with mercy for today. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, ‘The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” God’s mercy is best shown in His sacrifice of His Son in our place, but His mercy is also shown for us every day when we choose sin over obedience. Rather than striking us down every time we deserve it, God blesses us with continual days and years in His service. Even the lost feel the mercies of God as the rain falls on the just as well as the unjust. God often holds back His wrath when He has every right to exact perfect justice at the first transgression.

Faithful You have been and faithful you will be. You pledge yourself to me and it's why I sing Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips. Christ is called the Bridegroom and the church is the bride. Even when this bride is unfaithful, this groom is perfectly faithful. His mercy and love should be enough for us, like the spirit beings around the throne, to never cease to give praise to Him.

You Father the orphan, Your kindness makes us whole, and you shoulder our weakness and your strength becomes our own. 2 Corinthians 6:18 says, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.” John 1 says, “But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.” And Paul says in Galatians, “When the time came to completion, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” We have been placed as sons in the family of God, loved and disciplined as children, and blessed as joint heirs with Jesus.

Now you're making me like you, clothing me in white, bringing beauty from ashes for You will have Your bride. 1 John 3:2 says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” Romans 8:29 says, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” One day, we will be free even from the presence of sin in our lives. We will not be gods, but we will be like Christ. This process is called sanctification. It began on the day we were saved, continues throughout our lives, and will be finally realized when we leave this earthly shell of flesh and enter into His presence.

Free of all her guilt and rid of all her shame, and known by her true name and it's why I sing. You will be praised, You will be praised. With angels and saints we sing worthy are You Lord. The bride of Christ, the church, while not always perfect in practice, will be presented without blemish. Ephesians 5 says, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” That’s enough for the praise of our God to ever be on our lips.

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