Psalm 136:1

Psalm 136:1

His love endures forever

This Psalm has twenty-six verses and twenty-six repetitions of one simple, but gloriously profound statement, “His love endures forever.”

As we study these words, we will see a pattern emerging: -

1.     The Lord is the One who is to be praised. (v1-3)

2.     Our God created all things. (v4-9)

3.     It was God who delivered Israel from Egypt and brought them through the wilderness. (v10-16)

4.     God oversaw the conquest of Canaan. (v17-22)

The final 4 verses are a summary of each of the above with a final call to give thanks to the God of heaven.

It’s worth pointing out that every Hebrew word and name has a numerical value and here there are 26 statements of fact about the Lord God. His name, in Hebrew, is Yahweh and guess what? The numerical value of that name is 26! That is why this wonderful song appears to be a simple repetition of facts but as we dig deeper, we will find that it is actually a profound exploration of God’s relationship with the created humans who inhabit His earth. 

 

V1        The psalm writers love to extol the goodness of God. It’s easy to let such a simple expression pass us by without considering its implications. When we declare “God is good” we must ask, “compared to what?”  And the answer is – everything! The world and everything in it is corrupt and blighted by evil. All living matter is destined to die. God did not make it that way, because He is good all that He made was declared to be good too. (See Genesis 1). It might have remained good if the peak of God’s creation had been willing to serve and obey Him, but no, we chose a different way, and a broken-hearted God had to watch His incredible creation sink into darkness and death. All became tainted by evil, and a battle for the survival of our planet has been raging ever since. We need to understand that because God is good, He cannot be tainted by sin, and He is unable to accept the presence and influence of sin where He dwells. He has left an open door for every human who has ever lived to repent and turn away from darkness and because He is good, He will vindicate those who trust in Him. But because He is good there is no second chance or access granted to those who rebel and ignore Him. This Psalm spells out the full gospel in a few simple words, and it also embraces the whole of human history. It offers the keys to the afterlife, and it determines our future destiny. And we’ve only just scraped the surface! 

For those who have genuine faith there should be no hesitation in giving thanks to the Lord, thanks here is the same as praise, it is an acknowledgement of who God is, what He has done and who we are by comparison. In this instance we are exhorted to praise Him for His goodness! It is to this equation that we must add the key words of Psalm 136, “His love endures forever.” But that is another subject which we will return to in coming verses. Hallelujah!

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