Psalm 136 "His Steadfast Love"

Psalm for Today = 136:1, 26 

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever…

²⁶ Give thanks to the God of heaven,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.

Comments:

This psalm recounts the history of Israel in the first line of each verse and responds to each fact with a repeated line about God's love (Heb., hesed) for His people in the second line of each verse (26 times). The psalmist must have known we would need to repeatedly remind ourselves of that truth!

I confess that I have a love-hate relationship with this psalm. I used to hate it because it was so repetitive. It violated my internal “don’t-go-around-the-barn-again-just-put-the-horse-in-the-stall” principle. I had actually stopped reading the second line of each verse to focus on the “meat” of the poetic recounting of Israel's salvation history. Then, ten years ago, I gave a message entitled, “Say It Again,” where we walked through ten passages in the Bible that have repeated terms where God wanted to make a special point. This psalm was example number one!

 

[Excerpt: As students of the Bible, it is helpful for us to develop our observational skills. We have to train ourselves to search out the author’s original meaning and to avoid creating our own “meanings.” One simple method we can use to find clues that will help us determine an author’s emphasis in a given passage is to look for things that are repeated– either single words, phrases, or full sentences. Today we will look at the following ten passages with repeated words or phrases, and take new joy in those times when God “says it again”.]

 

I came to understand that both parts are needed! Not only that, but the refrain was probably spoken by the congregation, thus enabling them to see their history not as merely a chain of unrelated events but as a constant expression of God’s steadfast love. Their whole history was surrounded, sandwiched, and marinated in the hesed of God! So is ours! Now I love this psalm because it so thoroughly expresses our privilege of participating in the steadfast love of God.

It might be an encouraging exercise to write out our personal salvation history in short verse lines and then put this refrain between all the lines. Read it through and give thanks!