“For His anger is fleeting, but His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5, BSB).

I call this lesson “Favor Lasts a Lifetime.” The second half of this verse is the famous part, about weeping turning into joy in the morning, but it was the phrase “His favor is for a lifetime” that caught my attention.

That word favor is favor or acceptance. It’s the same thing we read in Ephesians 1:6, “…to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (NKJV). That Ephesians 1 word translated “accepted” is only used one other time. It’s when Mary is called “highly favored.” We are not only accepted by God, we are highly favored.

God gets angry at sin because we are hurting those He loves, which includes ourselves. He doesn’t reject His children, but sometimes He has to painfully cut some of them off when they choose to reject Him, despite His constant work to draw them back to Himself. If you are in Christ, you are chosen by God. You are kept by God. You are accepted and will not be rejected. You are highly favored, desired—the apple of His eye.

God wants your love. He wants your loving devotion. His desire is for you; He wants you to desire Him. He may get angry, but He doesn’t cast off forever. He doesn’t afflict or grieve willingly. His desire is to bless you and honor you and give you gifts. You are favored. You are accepted by Him for life. You will never lose His good favor because He changed His mind about you. You just need to accept it and not reject Him, or walk away from the greatest, unconditional love you could possibly know.