DUNCAN/Relentless, consistent, everlasting, committed Love
If you have your Bible, I’d invite you to turn with me to Psalm 136. This psalm, as you will notice, begins and ends with a call to give thanks. God never asks you to worship Him or give Him praise without you understanding the reason why. And the reason why you ought to do that is always rooted in who He is, what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do. The psalms are anxious to tell us why we ought to worship God so that our praise is rooted in the truth about God which He has revealed to us in His Word. In this psalm, God’s creation, God’s redemption, and God’s providence are all given to us as the basis of our praise, the content of our praise, and the reason for our praise.
It is Vital to Our Spiritual Well-Being to Praise the Lord
Look at the opening in verse 1 — We give thanks to the Lord because He is the Lord, the God of Israel. Because He is good, and because of His lovingkindness which lasts forever. In other words, in one quick verse the psalmist has supplied you with three theological reasons to give thanks to God — Because He is Lord, because He is good, and because His lovingkindness never ends. You know, there are all sorts of good reasons that we can give when unbelievers ask us the question, “Why are you a Christian?” But one of the very best and in fact one of the essential responses to that is, “Because it’s true. I worship God because He is. I believe the Bible because it’s true. My praise to the Lord, my worship of the Lord is rooted in my acknowledgement and my confession of the truth. Otherwise, it’s kind of an exercise in emptiness.”
You don’t worship a God you don’t believe in. You don’t come, getting up in the morning on the Lord’s Day and coming back in at night on the Lord’s Day Evening to hear a book that you don’t believe is true. Where the Word is not believed and where God is not believed, the pews are emptying out. The psalmist taught us long ago that our worship is rooted in our theology, that our praise is rooted in the truth, that our worship of God is rooted in the doctrine of His Word and that’s why it’s so important for us to confess and acknowledge Him and to express that in our worship.
True Worship
Secondly, in this passage we learn that in true worship we acknowledge the Lord’s goodness and His grace and His love and His commitment by a deep consideration of who He is and what He has done. Again, the psalm begins, “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, His steadfast love endures forever.” So, he acknowledges the goodness of God and the lovingkindness of God, the grace and mercy and the commitment of the Lord to us. How is that seen? Well as we’ve said in this psalm, especially in creation, redemption, and providence. That is, we are to praise God for His goodness and His lovingkindness in these things.
William Plumer says this, “If people despair of and doubt the lovingkindness of the Lord, they will not turn from their sin.” Isn’t it interesting that it is precisely God’s covenant love and grace that He uses to turn people from their sin? Because there is mercy, we turn to Him. Therefore, it is so important for us always to hold up before sinners the lovingkindness of the Lord because sinners, as hard as they work to deny that they’re sinners, deep down know two things — They are sinners, and they deserve to be condemned. What they have a hard time believing is that God would give His own Son in their place and bear their condemnation so that they can come back into the friendship and fellowship of a living God. And it is a glory that we have to announcement in the Gospel that truth of His lovingkindness.
Second, notice here the emphasis on God’s creation and providence. You see it in verses 4 to 9; you see it again in verses 23 to 25. If we stop believing in God’s creation and providence, you know what we’ll also stop believing in? We’ll stop believing in His redemption. And it’s not surprise, is it, that both of those things have been under assault in modern theology — A denial of God’s creation — A denial of God’s providence. We look out at the world and perceive God’s agency, as well as His goodness and His lovingkindness in His creation of the heavens. And so, my friends, we must believe in the miracle of creation and the miracle of redemption if we are going to praise Him as we ought.
God’s Foes Will Always Fail and Perish
Third, look especially at verses 17 to 22 where we’re told that God struck down the kings that opposed Israel. This is part of His redemption, but it also points out this important truth that we need to remember when we worship God. The foes of God’s people will always fail and perish; they always have, they always will. You know, to believers who were persecuted in Nero’s Rome, Paul once said, “If God is for you, who can be against you?” And of course, he said that to you and me as well because he was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that word is part of the profitable Word of God that is meant for every believer to build us up in truth and righteousness. If God is for the believer, the opposite is true for the unbeliever. The foes of God’s people will always fail and perish; they always have, and they always will.
This is Your Song
Fourth and finally in this psalm I want you to notice something about the repeated refrain, “For His steadfast love endures forever.” Yes, this accentuates God’s covenant love as the ground of all our blessings and hopes, but it does something else too. Saying that refrain over and over again is deliberately designed to bring home the relevance of every act of God to every believing singer of this psalm. The repetition of that phrase is designed to convince you, the believing singer of this song, that everything God has done, is doing, or will do in your life is for your salvation. He is making all things work together for good for you because He loves you, and you are called according to His purpose. He has sent His Son because of His love for you. His lovingkindness is for all His people. You have no idea how much He loves you. What’s the response? The only possible response is for us to give thanks unto the Lord for He is good. His lovingkindness is everlasting.