“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods for his steadfast love endures forever.”
– Psalm 136:1–2
Thus begins this psalm where every single verse says a line and then follows it with, “For his steadfast love endures forever.” It just says over and over again to the God who is this, to the God who does this blessing and honor and glory and thanksgiving be to his name. Why? Because his steadfast love endures forever. So I just want you to think with me, like the whole point of PSalm 136:1–2 is to cause us to reflect on the steadfast love of God that lasts forever. No matter what happens in our lives, we can always look up and know that God loves us and his love for us will never ever, ever end.
God’s Endless Love for Us
In a world of unknowns, we have an absolute certainty. The Love of God for us will never ever end.
What an awesome thought. There’s a lot that you cannot count on tomorrow or next week or next year. There’s a lot of unknowns in our lives, but this is known. Tomorrow, God’s love for you will be steadfast, and next week God’s love for you will be steadfast, and next year God’s love for you will be steadfast and 10 trillion years from now, God’s love for you will be steadfast. To all who trust in him, to all who trust in Jesus, to forgive us of our sins, to all who trust in the truth of John 3:16 that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will never perish, but have eternal life. Like, I’m not going to presume every single person who is listening to this has received the love of Jesus. I’m guessing most have.
Psalm 136:1–2 Encourages Faith in Jesus Christ
But if you have not put your faith in Jesus who has died on a cross for your sins because God loves you, He’s made a way for you to be forgiven of all your sin against him. Through Jesus dying on the cross, rising from the dead so that when you believe in Jesus, you will not perish. You will have everlasting life where you enjoy steadfast love from God that endures forever. You say, how can I earn that love? It’s not earning. He who believes in Jesus, he who trusts in his steadfast love.
So put your faith in Jesus. Turn from your sin, yourself, trust in Jesus as savior and Lord of your life. And when you do that, he will lead you with steadfast love that endures forever. And one of the reasons I read verse two here, “Give thanks to the God of god’s” because praying today for, out of the Unreached Of The Day prayer app the Lunia people in India, 3.1 million of them.
They’re a Hindu people group, so they worship all kinds of different gods. Little gods. Hinduism worships millions upon millions of gods. And Psalm 136:2 says, “Give thanks to the God of gods for his steadfast love endures forever.”
So out of these 3.1 million Lunia people in Northeastern India, you know how many followers of Jesus there are? This app that I’m using says there are no known believers among the 3.1 million Lunia people at this time. Not one of them knows the love of the capital God that endures forever.
Praising God’s Love for Us
So God, we praise you for your love for us. We praise you for John 3:16, we praise you Jesus for dying on the cross for our sins so that we might be saved from our sins, saved by your love for us so we might have eternal life with your love. So that we don’t have to worry about tomorrow or a week from now or a year from now, or eternity, 10 trillion years from now. Because through Jesus, we have experienced your love and your steadfast love endures forever. All glory be to your name for your love. Thank you for loving us like this.
And so we’re compelled to pray for people around us who don’t know your love, God use us to share your love today, your steadfast love. Have us to point people today where we work, where we live, tomorrow in the cities, communities where we are right now, to people who need to hear about, need to experience your love. And then, Oh God, we plead for the Lunia people in India.
Psalm 136:1–2 Prays for the Unreached
Please show them your love. Bring the good news of your love to them. Send out laborers to take the gospel to them. Send some of us to take the gospel to the Lunia, lay our lives down, our churches down, use us to take the good news of your love to people who’ve never heard it like the Lunia. God we pray that there would be Lunia believers. We pray that you would draw them to your love, that they would sing. Give thanks to the God of gods for his steadfast love endures forever.
God, we pray right now for that song to be sung among the Lunia people. Please oh God, may it be so and please use our lives, our resources, our churches however you want to make that a reality. We give thanks to you oh Lord, for you are good and your steadfast love endures forever. We give thanks to you, the God of gods for your steadfast love endures forever. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the 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, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
