Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
– Psalm 136:1
If you know Psalm 136, you know that in all of the verses that follow this. Twenty-six verses total. Every verse ends with this phrase, “for his steadfast love endures forever.” Twenty-six different times. We read that.
Psalm 136:1 is a calling to consider God’s steadfast love.
Clearly, God is telling us in the Psalm to meditate on this reality, that the steadfast love of God. And that word in the original language of the Old Testament is hesed. It’s one of the most beautiful words in all of Hebrew… In all the Old Testament. It is this word that there’s really not an English word that can capture the beauty of it. It’s like love, loyalty, kindness, goodness, mercy, and faithfulness. All wrapped up in one word.
And over and over again… Psalm 136 says this loyal, loving, steadfast, mercy, and faithfulness of God toward you and me endures forever. What a rock to stand on today. No matter what’s happening in the world. No matter what’s happening in your life. To know that today, once you wake up in the morning, new hesed is greeting you. New mercy, new faithful, loyal, steadfast love from God is ready to hold you up all day today.
And when you lay your head on your pillow at night. His steadfast love, his mercy, his kindness, his goodness towards you will still be pouring out. As you sleep through the night, it will endure. And when you wake up tomorrow morning, it’ll be new again. This will be your life for all of eternity through Jesus, through the one who has given his life to restore us to God, though through the one whose Spirit now dwells inside of all who trust in him, forgiven of all your sin, filled with his Spirit to live in his steadfast love today.
Psalm 136:1 reminds us to abide in God’s love.
And so I just want to remind you, amidst all the lies of the adversary that will come at you today to tempt you that God does not love you, that your way is better than God’s way, that if he really loved you, this would not be happening in your life, or if he was really loving, this would not be happening in the world, for you to remember all day long, just think John 15, Jesus saying, “Abide in my love. Abide in my love.” Abide in his steadfast love for you today.
Believe that he loves you at every moment, that you can trust him at every moment, that he is for you at every moment, that he will give you all that you need, and that he is working all these things together around you for your good as you abide in his love. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever for you.
Oh God, we praise you for this reality. We praise you as the one who is love, as the one who defines, has said, we praise you for your goodness and your mercy and your steadfast faithful love and loyalty toward us by your grace. God, we don’t deserve this kind of love. We were enemies of yours running, rebelling against you and you ran after us with your steadfast love and you have saved us.
This verse invites us towards a deeper knowledge of God’s love in Jesus Christ.
God, I pray for anybody listening to this who may not know you in this way, who may have never received your love in Jesus, that today would be the day, even this moment, that it would be the moment where they trust that you love them so much. You’ve given your Son to pay the price for their sins they might have life in you. God, I pray for that over every person listening right now that they would abide in your steadfast love for the first time or in a fresh way today, all day today, and tomorrow.
We give thanks to you for you are good and your steadfast love endures forever. And we trust that nothing can separate us from this love today. Just pray that amidst temptations, trials, tribulations, and struggles, you would help each of us to remember and abide in your steadfast love for us. And not just keep it to ourselves, to spread it. God help us to tell somebody else by the power of your Spirit in us today about your steadfast love in Jesus.
We pray that you would show your steadfast love to others through us today.
Prayer for the Wakhi People
And God, we pray for this all around the world. We pray specifically today for the Wakhi people of China and Pakistan, for 126,000 Muslims who don’t know, have no known followers of Jesus, and don’t know the good news of your steadfast love in Jesus. God, please cause that to change so that they might rest in your faithful, loyal, loving kindness toward them for all of eternity. God, we pray that over the Wakhi people, and we pray you would help us as your people loved like this to spread your love among all the nations. We pray this in light of your Word in Psalm 136, which we love, in Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
