HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.

His Love Endures Forever.

His Love Endures Forever.

His Love Endures Forever.

Our sweetest refrain.

Psalm 136 says this over and over. A total of 26 times to be specific. 34 times in the book of Psalms.

I recently wrote out the entire chapter in my notebook because I had originally wanted to write my own version. Retracing His faithfulness and celebrating His goodness in my own life.

As I was writing each verse out, I didn’t take the short cut. I was determined to write “His Love Endures Forever” each time.

Doing this made it come more alive for me. Enduring through the pain to recount the Truth - showed me what this Enduring Love is like.

It presses on. Its outlasts. It fights for what it believes in.

Have you ever found yourself in a pit that seems so dark you don’t even know how you’ll get out? Have you ever found yourself in a trial so pressing that you just don’t know how you’ll possibly muster up the strength and courage to move on? Have you every found yourself in a season where you feel so stuck, so lonely and hopeless wondering if God is even there anymore?

This is where His enduring Love comes in. This is the moment we realize we can’t do it on our own. The moment we don’t give up, but that we finally give it up to God. When we humbly realize we can’t do it in our own strength… is when everything changes.

His Enduring Love is present, even now. When you can’t feel it, when it’s hardest to trace it. When you can’t possibly believe it could be true for you.

Because the Truth is - your weakest moment, your scariest trial, your darkest pit, your lowest season … does not change your God. It rather becomes the perfect ground to see who God truly is.

Good.

Worthy of all Thanks.

And loving to the end.

His Love Endures Forever.

His Love Endures Forever.

His Love Endures Forever.

As I wrote this time after time, I began to think back to when this scripture was first penned. Can you imagine? We don’t know for sure who wrote it, but the psalmist may have not realized what he had gotten himself into. That’s how I began to feel about 5 verses in.

He may have thought, yes I’ll write out the Lord’s goodness toward us so I can remember and praise Him. So he began with creation. Then landed on verse 8 and thought, how am I ever going to come to the end of this chapter? Psalm 136 could have been the whole Bible. There is no end to the Goodness of God!

Charles Spurgeon says it best, “The word endureth has been properly supplied by the translators, but yet it somewhat restricts the sense, which will be better seen if we read it, ‘for his mercy for ever.’ That mercy had no beginning, and shall never know an end.”

To which the Lord showed me… I’d rather my hand hurt from recounting God’s faithfulness, than my heart hurt from forgetting it.

Too often we forget. And when we do - we must remind ourselves of what is True. No matter how many times it takes.

This is not wishful thinking or irrationally dealing with our circumstances. This is Faith. This is choosing to rely on what’s true instead of what is challenging us to doubt the Truth.

Where do you need to remind yourself that God is Faithful to be exactly who He says He is?

What would change about your situation if you declared God’s Goodness there?

I had to do this the other night when I found myself in such a dark pit. This particular scripture has been on my heart for weeks. Almost as if Jesus has been drawing me in to believe it deeper for myself.

As I cried out to God that night, He led me to open up my Bible to the book of Job. And I read Job 2:10, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

It convicted my heart. I hadn’t even been accepting God’s goodness in trouble! I had not reminded myself of how good God is all the time. In every circumstance. Even in trouble.

So I went to bed that night, repeatedly declaring in my mind, “thank you God, You are good. Your love endures forever. Thank you God, You are good. Your love endures forever….” I said it over and over until I slept soundly on the promises of God.

And who would have thought! My next day was incredibly different than the one before. Simply because I declared God’s goodness where it was needed most.

What in your life is making you question God’s goodness?

It is there where you must declare God’s goodness over and over until you believe it. What is stopping you from doing so?

In writing out Psalm 136, I also began to think of how it was sung.

Congregations would gather and read this together. “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is Good.” …. And everyone would respond, “His Love Endures Forever.”

His Love Endures Forever. Was a whole group’s response in unison. To 26 lines of God’s character and heart and goodness proven and remembered over and over again.

They would sing it out loud. And celebrate it. Together. Over and over!

Is this our response in hardship? Is this our response in blessing? I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not always mine. But it should be. Because when we declare His goodness constantly, praise becomes our reflex.

So when something attempts to trip us up - we no longer react frustrated. We sing His praises. We respond differently than what seems natural. Because the truth we set our attention on is not natural, but Eternal.

I also began to realize that as I continued to write each line out, my hand writing grew sloppier. And it made me wonder… did the congregation ever grow tired of singing this?

Did they start at verse one shouting it from the rooftops. And by verse 11, mumbling and tired, “His Love Endures Forever” ?

By verse 24 did they try to speed past thinking, “ugh we have already said this 24 times…” ?

Or did they get to verse 26 and think, how could we ever be done praising God?

Our response does not always reflect God’s character. But His character will always deserve our response. And is the basis of our unity amongst the Believers.

His Enduring Love produces our Enduring Praise.

Who He is compels us to praise. And who He is will never change! So we always have reason to praise.

Just as His Enduring Love was true yesterday. Is true tomorrow. And will be true forever more. His enduring love is always present today.

How is God showing you His Enduring Love today?

How are you praising God for His Enduring Love today?

Knowing this Love is so true and real and intentional and pursuing. Propels our hearts to praise Him in true, real, intentional, pursuing ways too.

Just recently, I was going through a season of suffering. One night, I was sitting in the car when “Who Else” came on the radio. My sister began to sing it on the top of her lungs, and it nudged me to do the same. I began to sing it, for real. Out loud. Declaring the Truth.

“Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one! Only You Jesus!”

One lyric of that song always strikes me… “I have songs of praise not even angels sing.”

I remember truly worshipping God in this moment. By choice. For the first time in a while. And it changed everything.

And I felt The Lord whisper, “no one can steal your praise. You just choose to give it up.”

It is too easy to give up our praise of God these days. Distractions, trials, temptations, sin, struggles, shame, hardship, confusion, doubt, fear. They come vying for our attention. Not even being subtle about it anymore.

But we are the ones who choose to give over our praise to lesser things. It cannot be stolen from us. This is convicting, but also encouraging. It’s convicting because we don’t want to give it over! But it is encouraging to know that we have the authority in our worship. We can always choose to praise God when our circumstances demand we curse Him or forget Him, like we read in Job.

When we look at these things in comparison to God, it rightsizes what we are going through. It takes our eyes off of what will only ever be temporary to what lasts forever. Praise Jesus for this gift!

That brokenness may be present, but it will never be enteral for those in Christ Jesus. Pain may endure for the night, but Joy will always come in the morning. We do not mourn as those without hope, but these light momentary afflictions are always achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

When I began to sing that no one else was worthy. I had this moment of seeing what was unseen. Setting my mind on what lasts. I was being reminded that nothing else deserves my attention but Jesus. Not even what is vying for it. Or screaming at me for it. Because none of that comes close to the glory of God.

It was a clear picture of what only is worthy and what never will be.

Knowing this makes me think of one last thing… Psalm 118 says the same Truth, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.”

This praise begins the Psalm, and concludes the Psalm.

And yet again Charles Spurgeon says, “What better close could there be to this right royal song? The Psalmist would have risen to something higher, so as to end with the climax, but nothing loftier remained. He had reached the height of his grandest argument, and there he paused.”

There is nothing that can be added to this Truth or taken away. It is the Truest Truth we could ever sing. Our grandest argument.

God is Good.

His Love does Endure Forever.

Knowing this, we have every reason to give Him thanks.

Forever.

How do we know this is true? Because in Passover Custom, this Psalm would have been sung at the Passover meal.

Matthew 26:30 says, “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”

The night before Jesus’ crucifixion. In the midst of betrayal and denial and scattering friends. On the way to beatings and accusations and crucifixion. Knowing sweat like blood and a blood covered body and then a body wrapped in cloth was what lay in the balance. There Jesus sat in the upper room, singing these words.

Knowing the truth. Knowing the weight they carried. Knowing the eternality of such heavenly praises. And knowing the privilege and honor it is that we get to declare them on earth.

He knew what pain was to come and still He sang the Truth. He knew the separation from God He would experience on our behalf so that we could sing these words knowing He will never abandon us. He knew the blood and gall He would taste in the hours to come so that we could sing these words and taste The Lord’s goodness forever. He knew the agony in the garden crying to the Father for another way if it be His Will. Knowing there was nothing else that could save us, He took our cup so we could cry out these words in gratitude to God forever.

He knew the excruciating pain on the cross that awaited Him on our behalf - but He better knew the Love that was established there. So He chose to endure so it could be our reality in our deepest moments of hurt and our greatest moments of joy.

He is all knowing, and yet He sang these words.

Why would we think we are above singing this Truth every moment of every day?

Enduring Word says, “He did it with complete knowledge that the endurance of God’s mercy would be tested to the utmost in the work to come the next day at the cross.”

This voice, that moments later made an army of soldiers fall down in the garden. Who commanded the world into being. Who spoke light into darkness. Who hushes waves. And calls people by name. Who hung on a cross and cried, “it is finished!” And sits on the throne and says, “I am making everything new! Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

That same voice cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” So we could sing…

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is Good. His Love Endures Forever.” 34 times and forever more. Untiring. Rejoicing. Boldly. Confidently. Gratefully.

He sang these words with us in that upper room knowing what was to come. So we can too.

He didn’t focus on the pain that awaited Him. But the joy that was set before Him. So we can too.

In Christ, our future is not our circumstance, it is in Heaven. It is God on the Throne. It is residence in His Glory. It is worship every moment. It is goodness to its fullest. It is Love to the utmost.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭13‬ ‭

The greatest is Love because once we get to Heaven that will be what lasts. Our faith will be satisfied. Our hope will be secure. But Love - we will have only experienced the beginning of.

And His Love Endures Forever. And ever. And ever. And we get to spend all of eternity resting in it.

Because God is Love.

And He came to us and rose from the dead, so that we can begin living in His love today.

Join in the chorus! Sing the song that not even angels get to sing. A Heavenly song that Jesus put on flesh to sing with us.

For together with Jesus, we know the Goodness of God in ways Angels can’t comprehend. Because along with Jesus, we experience His Goodness in Brokenness. Together with Jesus we now know His love endures even in our sin and shame. And it will always conquer it there.

We get to sing His Love Endures Forever to declare He outlasts every trial that seems like it will never end.

We get to sing He is Good when we accept trouble that reveals deeper depths of His goodness.

We get to sing Thank You Jesus. Because who else is worthy? There is no one! Only You Jesus!

Thank You God! You are Good. Your Love Endures Forever.

Jesus, I can’t believe I get to be a recipient of all You are and all You have done for me. Thank you. Help me to receive it with grateful hands. Hands that prize you and treasure you. Hands that praise you forever more. Hands that cling to you. Hands open in surrender to you. Hands that hold fast to your promise. All because You never abandon the work of Your hands. Thank You Jesus! Amen.