Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. (Psalm 136: 1, 36)
We all have words and phrases that
get adopted and overused. Some eventually get discarded, but others stay with
us, seemingly for life. Today’s passage occurs twice in Psalm 136, and in many
other psalms, or so it seems to me. Was David celebrating? Trying to beat the
idea through his skull and make it stay lodged in his mind? He probably
included this chorus in his songs for both reasons, but I have to say that I
often find it irksome.
Sometimes, it’s just the
repetition. Sometimes, I think I’m jealous because “God always likes David best”
(a la The Smothers Brothers.) Since David as “a man after God’s own heart,”
somehow I must be a failure. Sometimes, the competition isn’t there, but the
sense of failure is. Sometimes, whether it’s true or not doesn’t matter. I’m
just timid of “love.” And then, there are those times when I’ve very aware of
God’s love – such as when He arranges my schedule at work in a way that lets me
do all I need to do in the park, or He provides the person or the thing that I
can use to make something or improve it. He’s even given me the moon, reflected
in a car window or posing for photographs.
You’d think that would be more than
enough proof of His love, but we have needy souls. There’s no end to the depth
of our needs, so I’m sure I’m not the only one who needs the reminder, even if
David makes it sound like a broken record. We need to repeat it at least as
often, to counteract what we tell ourselves or hear from others – the lie that
He doesn’t care or even dislikes or despises us.
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