Psalm 136 “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. This episode is about how God's love endures forever. It also recaps many things the Lord has done for us over the years. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
His Love Endures Forever
Psalm 136 “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.
to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever.
who by his understanding made the heavens, his love endures forever.
who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever.
who made the great lights—His love endures forever. the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.
to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever. and brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever.
with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever.
to him who divided the Red Sea[a] asunder His love endures forever. and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever. but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever.
to him who led his people through the wilderness; His love endures forever.
to him who struck down great kings, His love endures forever. and killed mighty kings—His love endures forever. Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever. and Og king of Bashan—His love endures forever. and gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever. an inheritance to his servant Israel. His love endures forever.
He remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever.
and freed us from our enemies. His love endures forever. He gives food to every creature. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.
I know this verse is a lot longer than I usually do. I usually pick a verse or two and this is all 26 verses of this Psalm. Psalm 136:6 “who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever” was the verse that lead me to this Psalm in the first place. I decided to read the whole Psalm as I felt perhaps this was a small part of something bigger. When I read the whole thing I instantly felt like I should share the whole thing. Since the phrase “His love endures forever” is repeated throughout the whole Psalm, I thought I would just take that out to make it shorter and just repeat it after each section. However, when I had that thought I immediately got the sense God wanted me to leave it in there. I felt He was saying to me that we need to have that reminder over and over again today.
This Psalm today has two purposes. First and foremost to remind you over and over again so many times that there is no way you can forget that God’s love endures forever. Forever is a very long time. It means it never goes away. God’s love lasts forever, it doesn’t say it lasts a lifetime, it says forever. It doesn’t say that His love lasts until you do something He doesn’t like, it says forever. It doesn’t say that it endures until you get sick or are in a seemingly impossible situation and then it goes away. It says it endures forever. It also doesn’t say that His love endures forever as long as you don’t walk away, as long as you do all the things you are supposed to do, or as long as you get it right all the time. No, it says His love endures forever and that’s it. There are no conditions placed on it, there is no requirement for you, God has loved you from the beginning of time and He will continue to love you forever, regardless of circumstances. That is pretty amazing when you really think about it. Who else can you say that about? Who else’s love will endure forever, regardless of your actions and regardless of time?
The second purpose of this psalm today is to remind us of some the remarkable things God has done for us over the years. The sense I am getting this morning is that some of you listening to this episode may be struggling with feeling God’s Love right now. Maybe you are sick, and you feel as though He is not answering your prayers. Maybe you are feeling stuck in a family situation that seems impossible and feel as though He is not hearing your prayers. Maybe nothing in particular is wrong, you just don’t really feel a sense that God is with you right now. Whatever you particular circumstance is God wants you to know that He is speaking directly to you to day. He hears you, He is answering your prayers, He loves you and most importantly, He is right there with you through it all. This Psalm is for you. This is your heavenly Father letting you know that His love endures forever and just as he did all these things for His people in the past He will do just as much for you. He is moving mountains in your life, He is preparing you for amazing things, you just can’t see it yet. Hang in there, your miracle is coming!!
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Give thanks to the God of gods. Give thanks to the Lord of lords: to him who alone does great wonders, who by his understanding made the heavens, who spread out the earth upon the waters, who made the great lights— the sun to govern the day, the moon and stars to govern the night;” Can you imagine how powerful God must be to create the whole universe. He made the heavens, the earth, the sun, the moon and the stars, just for us. Every time you look at the sun, the moon, or the stars, you can think of how much God loves you. Hopefully, after hearing this verse, when you look at them, it will be a reminder to you that His love endures forever. When you can’t feel God’s love or His Presence in your life, look to the sun, moon, or stars and remember His promise that His love endures forever.
“To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt and brought Israel out from among them with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; to him who divided the Red Sea asunder and brought Israel through the midst of it, but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; to him who led his people through the wilderness;” Imagine if God can do all of this for His people, what He will do for you. God did not just strike down the firstborn of Egypt, first He gave the Pharoh multiple chances to let the Lord’s people go. He also told His people what to do so that their first born children would not be lost. He divided the Red Sea for His people. They felt lost, they could not see a way out with the Red Sea on one side and an army closing in on the other. I am sure many of them felt as if God had led them to their death. Yet, God made a way where there wasn’t one. He did not just lead them to freedom, He also destroyed their enemies, the army that was pursuing them. God will do the same for you! He will make a way where you don’t see one. He will make a way back from this illness, out of the family situation, out of the work situation and out of any other situation you find yourself in, no matter how impossible it seems. He is the Waymaker. He always finds a way.
“To him who struck down great kings, and killed mighty kings—Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan—and gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to his servant Israel.” The Lord gave His people an inheritance. The people entering these fights did not always think the would be victorious. Sometimes, many times, over the years, God’s people were outnumbered. They would go into battle knowing that they were not only out numbered, but also had less weapons, less resources, less everything. They definitely wouldn’t have been favored to win if people were betting based on appearances. However, what they did have was the favor of God. That is all they needed. No matter how hopeless your situation seems, God has the power to fix it, to save you from it, and to bring you out of it. We just have to keep relying on Him and waiting for His time, now our time. He has struck down kings, He can surely take care of what is in your way. God’s got you! He will save you.
“He remembered us in our low estate and freed us from our enemies. He gives food to every creature. Give thanks to the God of heaven.” God remembers you always, not just when everything is going great and you are high on life. He remembers you when you are at your lowest as well. He has freed His people from so many enemies, and He will free you too. If there is one thing we have learned from reviewing all these things the Lord has done for us it is that nothing is too great for Him. There is no enemy too powerful, no situation too complicated for the Lord our God. The verse ends with “Give thanks to the God of heaven.” I think you will be surprised how far the smallest amount of gratitude will get you. The Lord has done so many incredible things and He really loves it when we acknowledge that. Who doesn’t like to be appreciated, right? We owe everything to the Lord. We have no idea how many things He has saved us from throughout each day and then when you add in all the things He has done for us. We could never repay Him, and He is not asking us to. However, we can thank Him. We can let Him know how grateful we are. If you are wanting to see God more at work in your lives, I challenge you to take 5 minutes or less our of your day and intentionally thank the Lord of all you have seen Him do in your life that day. I bet, if you do this, you will begin to see more and more. I am not sure if God is actually doing more and more when we intentionally thank Him, or if He is doing the same, but we are just noticing more. Either way, you will see the Lord more at work in your life when you begin to be grateful for each thing you notice. I want to leave you with the phrase we have heard most today, “His Love endures forever.”
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing and we are so grateful for all the things you have done for your people throughout the ages. We are so grateful that you love us so much. Lord, thank you for giving us a love that endures forever. Thank you for taking care of our enemies and protecting us from all things. Thank you for being more powerful than everything else. Thank you for making a way when we can’t see one. We are so grateful your ways are higher than our ways and your thoughts higher than our thoughts. We would be lost with out you Lord. Father, help us to be more grateful for all that you do. Help us to take time out of our days to intentionally try to see you at work in our lives. We love you so much Lord, help us to feel your love. You are truly awe inspiring and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I hope you will join me tomorrow for our first ever, Witness Wednesday. Peggy will be sharing how she has witnessed God’s love in her life. It is a truly amazing story and you won’t want to miss it! I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow. Have a blessed day!