“Did you ‘get’ it?”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Saturday, June 22, 2024
Psalm 136 (Forward, p. 55) CEV p. 638
I don’t think that I will ever forget this psalm, given the time I shared a Passover Seder with a group of Messianic Jews, that is, a group of Jews who had converted to Christianity. We don’t know this for sure, but it is quite logical that this psalm was originally used as an act of worship, a kind of litany, with someone leading the first part of each verse, and the congregation joining in the second part. As it is, each verse of this psalm closes with the same refrain, ‘God’s love never fails’, and with each verse the congregation in this gathering got louder and louder in their response. By the time we reached the end, verse 26, it was almost deafening. It was like the home crowd rooting for their hockey or football team. And why was this? Well, many of these believers had come to Christ at great ‘cost’ to their lives and livelihoods. Many had been disowned by their families and many had lost jobs and financial security. And yet, they felt a new sense of freedom and joy in embracing Christ and being known and loved by Him. Yes, indeed, they knew that God’s love never fails, for they had experienced it themselves.
But there was more to it than just that. The psalm also details, apart from any personal reasons, why we should praise God, why we can say that His love never fails. We should praise Him for:
His character and personality.
His work in creating the world and the entire universe.
His deliverance of Israel from its slavery in Egypt.
His bestowing of the Promised Land.
And of course, for His unfaltering deliverance & provision.
Our psalmist relates all this because he doesn’t want us to forget. He doesn’t want us to be guilty of ‘not getting it.’
So, what about us? Do we have our own litanies of God’s goodness and love, reasons why we would want to praise Him? It would be a good thing to ponder, and even enumerate, to write these down, so we would be sure never to ‘not get it.’
Forward notes: “Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his mercy endures for ever” (verse 26).
“Psalm 136 begins and ends with thanksgiving for God’s goodness and steadfast love. In between, we hear Israel’s salvation history, praising God, the omnipotent ruler, creator, deliverer, leader in the wilderness, and provider of the Promised Land. The refrain, ‘for his mercy endures for ever’ is sung 26 times. God has assured us that his extravagant mercy has and will endure throughout the ages, manifested in the person of Jesus.
“Now at seventy and seven years, I gratefully recount my salvation history: Exodus in my youth from a violent, gang-riddled neighborhood, for his mercy endures for ever. Wandering in my wilderness periods of life, with God’s transcendent cloud and pillar of light with me by day and night, for his mercy endures for ever. For God repeatedly healing my brokenness of heart and soul, to be made whole, yielding the manna of new life, for his mercy endures for ever. For the promise of what is to come in this life and beyond, I give thanks to the God of heaven, for his mercy endures for ever.”
Moving Forward: “Today, recount your salvation history.”