Don’t Stop Climbing the Heights or Exploring the Depths?
You probably remember the person who loved you better than the rest. Does anyone come to mind? Even if you don’t have any human who loved you well, there is a friend who sticks closer that a brother and whose love is most precious and best.
Psalm 136: 1-3
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.
For 23 more verses the writer of Psalm 136 repeats “His love endures forever.” Why do we have to be reminded over and over again? Maybe we don’t believe it, don’t think we need his love, or think we are too bad to deserve it.
Or perhaps his heart was so full of love and gratitude that the Psalmist couldn’t help himself. Maybe he knew how much we the readers need to be reminded not to rush over the true love of God, as we have a tendency to be too busy to “be still and know that He is God”.
Have you ever thought what life would be like if “His love didn’t endure forever”? Our past would be unforgiven, our present would be laced with uncertainty, and our future would be bleak. We would live in a world bent on destruction with no mitigating, redeeming force to stop the evil launched from the Garden of Eden. I doubt we’d even still exist as a human race or a planet that sustains life, if His love did not endure forever.
Because He is love and gives love and proves His love, we have lived with hope. His love for us doesn’t mean we won’t have trouble in this life. We have had and we will. But…that trouble doesn’t doom us to hopelessness. I admit I have not experienced much of the devastation of war, famine, pestilence, or cruel tyranny. Nor have I had to live through the hell of a home torn with addiction, violence, or abuse.
What I have dealt with is my own self-destructive sin nature and the “not good” of being alone. In these ways I am like the vast majority of humans that have ever lived. I have seen the deep want and neglect caused by both natural forces and selfish people.
Jesus said that “in this world we would have trouble” but we could “be of good cheer” because He has overcome the world. Jesus loves even when we are unloveable or unloving. He enters the storms with us and doesn’t desert us. He is only a prayer away because He lives in us, who are His disciples by Holy Spirit, the Comforter.
Would you please take the time to read Psalm 136 slowly and meditate on the enduring, sticky, magnetic, personal, calming, life-altering love of God since “His love endures forever”?