“Forever, Part Two”
July 30, 2006
Last week we began looking at Psalm 136 and focused on two key aspects of God. This psalm is unique in that it talks repeatedly about God’s love lasting forever. We talked about how it was a love that is strong, steadfast, merciful and righteous.
Two main themes from last week:
1) God is the one true God.
2) God is the creator of all things.
This week we are going to focus on the last part of the psalm.
“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.
To him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever.
Who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever.
Who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever.
Who made the great lights—His love endures forever.
The sun to govern the day, His love endures forever.
The moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.
To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever.
And brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever.
With a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever.
To him who divided the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever.
And brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever.
But swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever.
To him who led his people through the desert, His love endures forever.
Who struck down great kings, His love endures forever.
And killed mighty kings--His love endures forever.
Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever.
And Og king of Bashan--His love endures forever.
And gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever.
An inheritance to his servant Israel; His love endures forever.
To the One who remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever.
And freed us from our enemies, His love endures forever.
And who gives food to every creature. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.” Psalm 136:1-26 (NIV)
I. God is an Active God
God does not simply abandon his people. He is active in our lives to protect us, to guide us and to draw us to him.
“To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever.
And brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever.
With a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever.
To him who divided the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever.
And brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever.
But swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever.
To him who led his people through the desert, His love endures forever.
Who struck down great kings, His love endures forever.
And killed mighty kings--His love endures forever.
Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever.
And Og king of Bashan--His love endures forever.
And gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever.
An inheritance to his servant Israel; His love endures forever.” Psalm 136:10-22 (NIV)
As the people of Israel went up to worship God, they were constantly praising him and reminding one another about the greatness of God and the deliverance of his people from Egypt.
These verses recall some of the greatest moments of God’s divine intervention in the life of the nation. It is an acknowledgment that God and God alone is worthy of praise for his work in leading them out of almost 500 years of slavery and supplying their need for forty years in the desert before they entered the Promised Land.
For the Jewish people, the history of the nation is not someone else’s history, it is their history. What happened to the nation 400 years ago happened to them in that they are a direct line to the events and the people of the history of the nation. It is an image of recognizing the care and the love and favor of God in the life of the society.
This psalm reflects the nature of Gods love toward his people.
It is one of loving kindness, grace, mercy and strength.
God delivered the nation out of Egypt because of his love for them and because he wanted to show them his power and his glory.
Last week we noted that this psalm had significance in the Jewish worship and in particular is associated with the Feast of Passover which is commented on in these verses. In the Feast of Passover, the Jewish nation celebrates that on the last night they were in Egypt, after they had sacrificed a lamb and placed its blood on the doorposts, God passed over their houses and struck dead the firstborn of all the houses of the Egyptians. But because of that, the entire nation of Israel was allowed to be freed from their captivity.
The remaining verses here reflect victories that God gave the nation of Israel over other nations to establish them in the Promised Land. God gave them the land as an inheritance passed on from father to child.
In the midst of pain and suffering, God had not abandoned his people.
“Then the Lord told him, "You can be sure I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries for deliverance from their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come to rescue them from the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own good and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites live. The cries of the people of Israel have reached me, and I have seen how the Egyptians have oppressed them with heavy tasks. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You will lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt." Exodus 3:7-10 (NLT)
God is active in the lives of his people.
We have a view of God that he is somehow far off and distant. That what happens on earth is not effected by what happens in heaven. But God is a great and an awesome God. God is not only transcendent above mankind, he is intimate with mankind.
“The Lord made you, formed you in the womb, and will help you.” Isaiah 44:2a (God’s Word)
One of the biggest fears of mankind is that God will abandon us. We are afraid that somehow we have failed God and he is not willing to take us back and make us his own.
Missing from this psalm are all the times the nation turned away from God. After he had led them from Egypt, they still turned their back on him and sought after other gods or they failed to trust in him to protect them.
While Moses was on the mountain getting the law the people built a gold cow that they worshipped. The reason they spent forty years in the wilderness is that they refused to go into the land God had promised them and fight the people there. They were defeated by a little city after they entered the Promised Land because one person broke Gods command to take nothing form the city they had already destroyed. These people had constantly heard the voice of God, seen incredible miracles only he could do, defeated armies hundreds of times bigger than theirs and they still failed to do what God had called them to do.
But God never abandoned his people.
We think in our lives that we have messed up so much that God cannot forgive us or cleanse us from our sin. But God gave us Jesus Christ because he loved us so much that he would not abandon us.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NLT)
God gave Jesus because of his love for us; because he had not given up on us.
Have you given up on God? Have you given up on yourself?
As a follower of Jesus, we are told that if we confess our sin to God, he will cleanse us.
“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.” 1 John 1:9 (NLT)
Do you believe that your life is so bad that God cannot forgive you? Gods’ kindness and love for us is what brings us to be drawn to repent of our sins and enjoy life and love with God.
“Don’t you realize how patient he is being with you? Or don’t you care? Can’t you see that he has been waiting all this time without punishing you, to give you time to turn from your sin? His kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.” Romans 2:4 (Living)
We are told that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Not even ourselves.
“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 (NLT)
God is an active lover. He is passionate about us and desires for us to be passionate about him. What is holding you back form receiving the incredible love and mercy of God?
II. God is a Providing God
“To the One who remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever.
And freed us from our enemies, His love endures forever.
And who gives food to every creature. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.” Psalm 136:23-26
God is a God who provides for all of our needs. He does not wait for us to be cleaned up and present ourselves to him. He sees us in our lowest point and meets us there.
Remember the original singers of this song were talking about God delivering their people from slavery. They were celebrating that God had met them as captives and set them free.
God is a God who desires to strengthen us, not crush us.
“But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.” Psalm 3:3 (NIV)
God desires to value us as his people.
What we must continually seek is God honor and God glory, not our own pride and self-satisfaction. God wants us to understand that he desires to rescue us from the trap of the world around us.
The nation also recognized that God is the one who provided for their needs at every turn. When the nation left Egypt, God gave them food, shelter, clothes and protection. When they entered the Promised Land, God gave them victory over the enemy and allowed them to eat crops they did not grow. God is the greatest provider for our lives.
We must guard our hearts against self-sufficiency.
We must recognize that all we are and all we have came from God and belongs to God.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 (NIV)
When we recognize these truths about God, that he is the one true God, that he is the one who created everything, that he is active in our lives and that he is the provider of all of our needs, we become filled with thanksgiving.
“Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.” Psalm 136:26 (NIV)
An attitude of thanksgiving helps us to avoid a sense of entitlement.
We don’t deserve anything that God has given to us. We don’t deserve grace, mercy or love. But God grants it to us anyway. God pours out blessing upon blessing in our lives so that we may experience his love that is faithful and powerful in our lives.
What attitude do you have about God? Are you consumed with the idea that God cold never forgive you or heal your life? Do you believe that you are too far gone to be restored into peace with God?
Do you have an attitude that God owes you something? Do you think God has let you down? We must begin to be thankful for all God has done for us so that we have a proper perspective of God and his love for us.
