Ps. 136: “The Lovingkindness Is Everlasting”

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1     Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; 
    For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
2     Give thanks to the God of gods, 
    For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
3     Give thanks to the Lord of lords, 
    For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Following a call to praise (vss. 1-3), Ps. 136 gives us 22 reasons to offer thanksgiving to God. This is one of the great history lesson psalms, but the notable the refrying “For His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

This is also variously translated as:

His love is eternal (HCSB)
His lovingkindness is everlasting. (NASB)
His steadfast love endures forever. (ESV)
His faithful love endures forever (NLT)
His mercy endureth for ever (KJV)

Repeated often, it is not a throw away line. It is the very heart of the psalm. We often tend to gloss over something repeated so much since we’ve already read it and its coming is predictable being every other line. 

Charles Spurgeon said, “We shall have this repeated in every verse of this song, but not once too often.  It is the sweetest stanza that man can sing. What joy that there is mercy, mercy with Jehovah, enduring mercy, mercy enduring for ever. We are ever needing it, trying it, praying for it, receiving it: therefore let us for ever sing of it.”  (Treasury of David, Ps. 136, vs. 1)

Consider Jesus: Faithful and True

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Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Rev. 3:14“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:”

Rev. 19:11“And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war.”

The truth that we need to recognize is that what Jesus says is true. Although His veracity is constantly affirmed in the scriptures many doubt what Jesus has said.  This is sometimes the truth that Jesus speaks is something that we don’t want to hear, like the church at Laodicea, when Jesus had to tell them that they were lukewarm, poor, wretched, miserable and blind, when they thought that they were rich and insightful.

At other times, the words of Jesus revealed in the scriptures are hard to believe because they are about great things, far beyond our limited understanding, like the great judgment coming on the Roman Empire in Rev. 19. 

Finally, the words of Jesus are sometimes hard for us to believe because the spiritual enemies of Christ so regularly attack them. So we need the constant reminder: “These words are faithful and true.” (Rev. 21:5, 22:6)