By Douglas K. Wilson, Ph.D.
Dean, Office for Global Engagement, University of Mobile
GOD’S LOVE
Psalm 136
Our psalm this week addresses God’s love and mercy. This antiphonal psalm may have been sung by two choirs or by a song leader with a choral response.
The fundamental, never-changing truth of God’s covenantal lovingkindness sets the base for the melodic, progressive description of God’s character and actions above it.
For our musicians reading this lesson, I am imagining something like Charles Gounod’s “Ave Maria” set over Bach’s Prelude number 1 in C major. For our nonmusician readers, it would be like “Heart and Soul” on the piano: four-chord progression on the bottom of the piano with the melody higher up.
As a child without a relationship to God through faith in Jesus, I viewed this psalm as redundant, monotonous and boring. We would read this as a responsive reading. No thought, no heart, no worship was involved as we read “for His mercy endureth forever” over and over (and over) again.
In Creation (1–9)
Verses 1–3 focus on the character of God. He is worthy of our thanks because He is good. God is the standard of good, the creator of good and the judge of goodness. Whatever reflects His glory is good. Whatever rejects or steals His glory is evil. The phrases “God of gods” and “Lord of lords” communicate supremacy, the superlative in the original language. Yahweh is the greatest God and He is the Master of all masters. Yahweh rules the supernatural realm.
Yahweh also rules the natural realm, His material creation. Verses 4–9 summarize God’s work of creating the habitations of the heavens and the earth, and then populating the heavens with sun, moon, planets and stars.
God demonstrates His “chesed” in who He is and in what He does. Depending on the version, this term translates as “mercy” (KJV), “faithful love” (NLT), “steadfast love” (ESV), “lovingkindness” (ASV, NASB), “gracious love” (ISV) and “love” (HCSB, NIV). Why are there so many translations for a single word? Perhaps a better question is this: How does one translate a single word to encapsulate the essence of who God is and what God does?
In Conquest (10–22)
In Egypt, God brought judgment upon the Pharaoh and all the Egyptian gods (Ex. 12:12). In the exodus God parted the sea and allowed them to pass on dry ground. In the wilderness God sustained them though they murmured and complained. In the Promised Land, God gave them victory over those who rejected the one true God. In our time God is still at work. Jesus said the Father is always at work (John 5:19). We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Rom. 8:37).
In Compassion (23–26)
When it seemed that Yahweh had abandoned His people in Egypt, He remembered them in their lowly circumstances. When the enemy seemed to have the upper hand, God silenced His foes with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. When the people longed to return to slavery so they could have more variety in their diet, God provided food for them daily. His love never failed them, nor will it fail us.
As a maturing follower of Christ now, I see the echoing confession of God’s faithful love differently than when I was a kid. Instead of monotony, I hear the response crescendo with each passing verse. What begins as a simple pulse grows louder and louder, crying out the faithfulness of God with passion and gratitude … “Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love is eternal.”
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