Psalm 136:1-26

The Love of God is unchanging and everlasting.  All twenty-six verses of the Psalm end with the declaration that “His steadfast love endures forever.”  Love is a strange combination of emotion and will that is difficult for us to define exactly because we are not comfortable simply calling love an emotion nor are we inclined to take all the emotion out of love and simply call it an act of the will.  Our love seems to be very volatile.  We love someone very deeply but with the passage of time that love seems to fade away, lose intensity or even turn to indifference or hatred.  God’s love is not like that at all.  He never “falls out of love.”  God’s love is also eternal, so it will always be true.  We need not fear that God’s love for us will somehow run out.  God’s love has always been and always will be.  This truth should cause us to be exceedingly grateful and to express that gratitude to God in our prayers and in our worship.  The love of God is demonstrated through the works of God.

GOD SHOWS HIS LOVE THROUGH THE CREATION OF THE EARTH: God spoke all of creation into existence.  He created a perfect environment in which we could live.  The grandeur of creation is astounding.  There is a combination of functionality and awesomeness seen in creation that ought to fill our lives with wonder.  We have dry land on which to live, immense seas and even more immense heavens.  There is such variety in all three of these aspects of creation.  Our lands have plains and mountains.  There are places where we can build our homes and grow our food as well as places that we can explore and experience adventures of infinite variety.  The seas are also a source of food but they also provide us with places where we go to rest on the shores of the sea or experience the frightening storms out in the depths of the sea’s expanse.  The heavens are majestic and peaceful to observe and we have been able to scratch the surface of exploring the heavens as well.  However, we have discovered that the size and variety of the universe in which we live is beyond our ability to comprehend.  All of creation declares the greatness of God and demonstrates the love of God because it is a means through which God has revealed Himself to all of mankind.

GOD SHOWS HIS LOVE THROUGH THE LIBERATION OF ISRAEL: God is not only the God of creation who made the world and then stepped away from it so watch and see how things would play out.  God is involved with every aspect of our lives and cares very deeply about us.  He sees our sufferings that were brought about because of our own sinfulness and He is merciful to provide a means by which we can be free from this reality.  The children of Israel were slaves suffering in Egypt.  They got to this dark and painful place in history through a long string of sin.  However, God demonstrated His love for this nation by liberating them from this slavery.  He overthrew the Egyptian oppressors with His all-powerful and mighty hand.  He opened a path by which the children of Israel could be free.  He did all of this despite the doubts, fears and constant complaints of the very people He was working to free.  Love does what is best for the other person even when they do not realize it.  God’s greatest demonstration of love was liberating mankind from our enslavement to sin.  He paid a great price to free us from sin, and despite our tendency to love our sin; He faithfully and graciously continues to work His loving plan of redemption in the lives of His children.


GOD SHOWS HIS LOVE THROUGH THE DOMINATION OF ENEMIES: Once Israel was free from Egypt there were still many battles to be fought on the way to the Promised Land.  Many kings tried to defeat, destroy or at least discourage this new nation of wanderers, but God’s love gave Israel the victory over kings and nations much stronger and more experienced than they.  Once they were in the land there were still many nations and cities that had to be conquered.  God gave Israel the victory over and over again.  God sets us free from sin through salvation but there are still many battles with sin that we will face over and over again.  We are powerless to overcome these battles apart from God.  However, He is at work in us and lovingly leads us to a life of victory over sin.  Once day all of the enemies of God’s people will be completely vanquished and we will live for all of eternity free from sin and experiencing the unchanging and everlasting love of God to perfection.  

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