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. Give thanks to the Lord of Lords, for His steadfast love endures forever. To Him, who alone, does great wonders, for His steadfast love endures forever. To Him, who by understanding, made the heavens, for His steadfast love endures forever. To Him who spread out the earth above the waters, for His steadfast love endures forever. To Him who made the great lights, for His steadfast love endures forever. The sun to rule over the day, for His steadfast love endures forever. The moon and stars to rule over the night, for His steadfast love endures forever.
– Psalm 136:1–9
I trust you get the whole point of this Psalm pretty quickly as you hear every verse repeat this refrain, “For His steadfast love endures forever.”
Psalm 136:1–9 Acknowledges the Lord’s Enduring Love
All 26 verses of Psalm 136 contain that phrase. So just let that phrase soak in today, the steadfast love of God. Most times, you see that phrase “steadfast love” in the Old Testament. In the English translation, it’s the Hebrew word khesed. It’s such a great Hebrew word. One of the most beautiful words in all the Bible. And there’s not really one English word that can summarize it.
Steadfast love is maybe the best attempt, but it’s this word. It’s like a combination of goodness, kindness, faithfulness, love, mercy, loyalty, commitment, all wrapped up in one word. And I just want you to let that soak in today in your life. This is the kind of love God has for you: steadfast, faithful, kind, good, merciful, loyal, committed, sacrificial love. And He doesn’t just have it for you today. Tomorrow, He’s going to love you in the same way, and the next day, and the next day, for all of eternity. His steadfast love for you endures forever. So live in that today.
God, I pray, Ephesians 3, what Paul prayed over the Ephesian church, I pray over every single person listening right now, that they would have power with all the saints to grasp how wide, how deep, how high is your steadfast love for us in Jesus. Lord, we praise You for this love that Ephesians 3 says surpasses knowledge, that language can’t even express. God, we praise you for your supernatural love for us, knowing we don’t deserve this love.
Psalm 136:1–9 Encourages Us to Delight in God’s Everlasting Love
If I were to keep reading here in Psalm 136, your Word talks about how your people even rebelled against You, yet, your steadfast love pursued them in their rebellion. God, that’s all of our story. We praise you for your love for us, and I pray that You’d help us to live in light of your love for us today, that we would see ourselves not as the world sees us, not as even we see ourselves, but that we would see ourselves as you do, through your loving eyes, and your loving arms.
And amidst whatever we’re walking through, amidst whatever we face today, that we would trust in your love, that we would feel your love, and, God, that we would share your love. God, we pray that you would help us. Give us boldness today to share the good news of your steadfast love with people around us, with somebody around us today, to hear from us about the goodness and the kindness, and the love, and the loyalty, and the faithfulness, the gentleness, the mercy that you have shown them in Jesus.
Praying for the Jat People
You desire for them to know in their lives God used us to lead somebody to your steadfast love today, and we pray for people groups around the world that have never heard of your steadfast love in Jesus, that don’t even have access to this good news right now, for the Jat people, the Sikh people, mainly in India, but as I look at the Joshua Project app, the specific prayer request is for Jat people in the United States.
And I think about even this episode being on July 4th, where we celebrate freedom in the United States. God, we praise you for freedom. For those of us who live in this country, and other countries, where we have freedom to proclaim the Gospel, God help us to proclaim it. To the nations who’ve come to this nation, God, help us to welcome the sojourner, and share the steadfast love of Jesus with them. God, we pray for the spread of your steadfast love among 9 million Jat people, from the US, to India, and anywhere else, and to all the peoples of the world, that they might all know that your steadfast love endures forever. God, for all of eternity, we will praise you for your khesed toward us. In Jesus’s name we pray, according to Psalm 136. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
