Reflections on Psalms 136

 Psalms 136(Contemporary English Version)

1. Praise the LORD! He is good. God's love never fails.
   
2. Praise the God of all gods. God's love never fails.
   
3. Praise the Lord of lords. God's love never fails.
   
4. Only God works great miracles. God's love never fails.
   
5. With wisdom he made the sky. God's love never fails.
   
6. The Lord stretched the earth over the ocean. God's love never fails.
   
7. He made the bright lights in the sky. God's love never fails.
   
8. He lets the sun rule each day. God's love never fails.
   
9. He lets the moon and the stars rule each night. God's love never fails.
   
10. God struck down the first-born in every Egyptian family. God's love never fails.
    
11. He rescued Israel from Egypt. God's love never fails.
    
12. God used his great strength and his powerful arm. God's love never fails.
    
13. He split the Red Sea apart. God's love never fails.
    
14. The Lord brought Israel safely through the sea. God's love never fails.
    
15. He destroyed the Egyptian king and his army there. God's love never fails.
    
16. The Lord led his people through the desert. God's love never fails.
    
17. Our God defeated mighty kings. God's love never fails.
    
18. And he killed famous kings. God's love never fails.
    
19. One of them was Sihon, king of the Amorites. God's love never fails.
    
20. Another was King Og of Bashan. God's love never fails.
    
21. God took away their land. God's love never fails.
    
22. He gave their land to Israel, the people who serve him. God's love never fails.
    
23. God saw the trouble we were in. God's love never fails.
    
24. He rescued us from our enemies. God's love never fails.
    
25. He gives food to all who live. God's love never fails.
    
26. Praise God in heaven! God's love never fails.

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This psalm is no doubt antiphonal in nature with one choir singing "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good," while another choir responds, "His love is eternal." "His love is eternal" is the response for all 26 verses suggesting that God's love is the motivation for each statement in the psalm, a thought that might be extended to include the idea that His love is the motivation for all things. As in the psalm, His love motivates our praise and thankfulness as it also motivated creation, God's deliverance of Israel, and His giving to Israel a land of her own.

It is not a stretch to accept that love is God's motivation for everything He does, for the Apostle John tells us this is His nature, for "God is love." (1 John 4:8) Do we then say that love also motivates God's judgment? Or do we say that somehow God's love is involved when bad things happen to good people? Yes, in either case. Do we understand it? Not really for our capacity for love is not as great nor is our ability to understand. We may presume to understand and accuse God of being malicious and hateful, but it is because of our inability to understand and attempt to hold God to our lower standards.

As with so much about God, we can only accept by faith what we cannot understand.