Saturday, July 14, 2012

Psalm 136- Forever

The fog was hanging down this morning when I went for my walk.  I usually am not up at 5
AM, but this morning I just couldn't sleep, so I went ahead and got up.  Read my Bible.  Did some thinking.  And as soon as the sun started peeking through I took out for my morning walk.  There's something about seeing that little bit of golden sunshine leaking through the fog that lifted my soul, because in our darkness, His love shines through.  As I walked, I searched through the songs on my Ipod to find the ones that really spoke of God's love.  Sometimes a girl just needs a reminder.  As I was almost finished, I came across Chris Tomlin's Forever.  Midway through the song, he starts reciting Psalm 136.  I wasn't sure what Psalm it was, so when I got in the house, I looked it up.  Love this:
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.  His love endures forever.  Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.  Give thanks to the Lord of lords:  His love endures forever.  to him who alone does great wonders,  His love endures forever. 5 who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.  who spread out the earth upon the waters,  His love endures forever.
7 who made the great lights His love endures forever. 8 the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. 9 the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever...23 He remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever. 24 and freed us from our enemies.  His love endures forever.
25 He gives food to every creature. His love endures forever.26 Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His love endures forever. "
(verses 10-22 talk about all God did for the Israelites.  I didn't include them because it would be a long passage... but it's a great chapter). 

He is good.  He is the God of gods... there is none like Him.  He does great wonders... miracles and heart changes.  He made the heavens and the earth... have you ever stopped to wonder what keep clouds in the sky?  Or how the land of islands just kind of float in the middle of the sea?  He knows... He made the great lights, a bright sunshine and moons and stars... And then this verse, the whole reason why I was prompted to look up this Psalm- "He remembered us in our low estate."

Estate- period in a person's life.  Sometimes, we just get down in the dumps.  We are lower than low.  It might be because of something stupid we've done or something stupid someone else has done to us.  Sometimes, people hurt our feelings.  We allow ourselves to get our props knocked out from underneath us, or sometimes we can fight as hard as we can and still find ourselves knocked down. No matter how we got there, though, He sees us.  He knows us... and He remembers us.  He doesn't leave us down there (unless we want to stay... and let's admit it, sometimes we grovel in our misery for a while...) In our lowest of lows, He is there...

He frees us from our enemies.  In the words of the Psalmist, these were actual people... and they can be with us, too... but He will also free us from oppression, shame, guilt, fear... feelings of self-doubt and lack of worth. 

His love endures forever... 26 verses, 26 times it is repeated, and it is found in numerous other Psalms as well.  His love endures forever... holds on, fights, bears, lasts... forever.  Amen...

1 comment:

  1. What a beautiful Psalm to start the day with Lauren! To think that the God who set the stars in space, who separates the dry land from the sea, who sets the borders for the tides each day... etc, woke you up to speak these things to you personally blows my mind! To consider that the Alpha and Omega knew you would awake early this morning and listen to this particular Psalm (which He ordained that you would so encourages my heart!

    I love how God writes these personal love letters to His children.

    Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful post Lauren.

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