reflection – The Lowedown

Psalm 136

¹Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever
²Give thanks to the God of gods.
His faithful love endures forever
³Give thanks to the Lord of lords.
His faithful love endures forever
⁴Give thanks to him who alone does mighty miracles.
His faithful love endures forever
⁵Give thanks to him who made the heavens so skillfully.
His faithful love endures forever
⁶Give thanks to him who placed the earth on the water.
His faithful love endures forever
⁷Give thanks to him who made the heavenly lights—
His faithful love endures forever
⁸the sun to rule the day,
His faithful love endures forever
⁹and the moon and stars to rule the night.
His faithful love endures forever
¹⁰Give thanks to him who killed the firstborn of Egypt.
His faithful love endures forever
¹¹He brought Israel out of Egypt.
His faithful love endures forever
¹²He acted with a strong hand and powerful arm.
His faithful love endures forever
¹³Give thanks to him who parted the Red Sea
His faithful love endures forever
¹⁴He led Israel safely through,
His faithful love endures forever
¹⁵but he hurled Pharaoh and his army into the sea.
His faithful love endures forever
¹⁶Give thanks to him who led his people through the wilderness.
His faithful love endures forever
¹⁷Give thanks to him who struck down mighty kings.
His faithful love endures forever
¹⁸He killed powerful kings—
His faithful love endures forever
¹⁹Sihon king of the Amorites,
His faithful love endures forever
²⁰and Og king of Bashan.
His faithful love endures forever
²¹God gave the land of these kings as an inheritance—
His faithful love endures forever
²²a special possession to his servant Israel.
His faithful love endures forever
²³He remembered our utter weakness.
His faithful love endures forever
²⁴He saved us from our enemies.
His faithful love endures forever
²⁵He gives food to every living thing.
His faithful love endures forever
²⁶Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His faithful love endures forever

(Psa.lm 136: 1-26, NLT)

The Daily DAVEotional

I grew up attending a traditional Protestant church, complete with Sunday school for kids and adults, followed by a worship service for the whole family.

We didn’t have a worship band like you find in many churches today. Instead, we had a choir director who also led the congregation in singing. In those days, “praise and worship songs” were considered folk songs that were reserved for singing around a campfire. They were not appropriate for the Sunday morning worship service.

For the worship service, we sang hymns from a hymnal that you could grab from the pew rack in front of you.

One of the more interesting elements of those old Sunday morning worship services was the occasional “responsive reading”. These were usually found in the back of the hymnal and consisted of two parts – the part that was recited by the worship director (usually in normal type), followed by the part that the congregation recited in unison (often depicted in bold type).

I always enjoyed those responsive readings, even though we did them only occasionally. As a kid, I think I liked being able to show off my reading skills, but as I grew older, I liked the opportunity this element provided to participate in the service in a different way. It was engaging, in a unique sort of way.

In today’s modern worship services, I rarely encounter a responsive reading. Today’s worship services often place a higher emphasis on creating an encounter for the congregants through a highly produced worship event rather than helping the attender to encounter God through this more simplistic reflection device.

I don’t mean to denigrate current worship styles as I very much appreciate the atmosphere and aura that a worship team can create through the amazing talents of ordinary people. The Sunday morning worship experience has certainly come a long way over the last 50 years. But I do think that there is tremendous value in some of these “older” Scriptural reflection elements that have sadly fallen out of style and favor.

What’s interesting to me is that the responsive reading is actually a biblical invention, as seen clearly in this psalm of thankfulness.

Twelve times in these 26 verses the psalmist makes the statement to “Give thanks” followed by a reason to give thanks. The first 9 verses detail God’s power in creation. In verses 10 through 16, the psalmist gives thanks for God’s deliverance of His people from the Egyptians.

In verses 17 through 24, the psalmist gives thanks for God leading the Israelites to their promised land and allowing His people to conquer and destroy their enemies.

Finally, the psalmist gives thanks for God’s general provision and sovereignty.

Interlaced between each of these statements of thankfulness is the repeated phrase, “His faithful love endures forever”, which is repeated 26 times. I’m getting the impression that the psalmist wants to say something about God’s faithful love enduring forever!

Think for a moment about the statement, “His faithful love endures forever.”

What do you think it means? Why do you think the psalmist chose that statement to be repeated in each verse?

The Hebrew word that is translated as “love” in this verse is the word “hesed” which has been translated as “loyal love”, “lovingkindness”, “steadfast love” and “faithful love.” It has also been translated as mercy, as in Ephesians 2:4:

⁴But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, ⁵that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.

The conclusion is that everything God has done, whether related to His miraculous work of creation or His mighty acts of deliverance, was ultimately rooted in and motivated by His great love.

God is love and He loved us so much that died for us. He is faithful, which means we can trust Him. His love and His faithfulness endure forever, which means the same God we read about in the Bible is the same God who lives today. He has not changed and His love and faithfulness will not run out. As a result, we can trust Him with our lives today just as the psalmist did 3000 years ago.

Reflection

What do you think it means that God’s faithful love endures forever? When you think and reflect on that statement about God, what comes to your mind?

What are some of the mighty acts God has accomplished in your life? Think about specific things that have happened in your life for which you are thankful.

What are some things you are thankful for related to your spiritual life and your new life as a believer?

Spiritual Exercise

Take a moment to write your own psalm of thanksgiving to God. Think about specific things in your past you are thankful to God for. Think also about the many spiritual blessings you have as a result of knowing Jesus.

Write out each of those statements on a lined sheet of paper, leaving a blank line between each written statement.

Now, after each statement, write the following in the blank line:

His faithful love endures forever.

After you have written your own personal psalm of thanksgiving, read it aloud, placing special emphasis on the phrase, “His faithful love endures forever.”

What thoughts, feelings and emotions did you experience while reading your personal psalm?

What can you do to ensure that you don’t forget or ignore all of the good deeds and mighty miracles God has done in your own life?

Photo by Skyler Gerald on Unsplash

GRATITUDE. It’s a word that can be hard to come by these days as the past few years have been challenging for a variety of reasons. Yet, I’ve been reflecting on the power of gratitude recently after an experience I had last month.

I had to write an essay for a program that I’m thinking about doing in the fall. The essay seemed simple enough – I had to share how I came to know Christ.

As I started writing the essay I began to think about the person who led me to that personal relationship with Christ.

I became a Christian right after I turned 15 at a Christian summer camp called Hume Lake. I was sitting in the chapel with my church high school group and the speaker, Dewey Bertonlini, was sharing with all of us squirrelly high schoolers what it means to know Christ personally. He said that many of us were probably “on the fence” about making that decision.

My ears kind of perked up at that point. He then shared that if that was the case, we needed to get off the fence and actually make a conscious decision to follow Christ, to make Him the Lord of our lives. Once that happened, all of our sins would be forgiven – past, present and future.

I still have the Hume Lake Decision Bookmark that commemorates the day I made the commitment to follow Christ!

It was at that point, on August 13, 1985, that I asked Christ to be the Lord of my life. I knew I was on the fence and needed to start a relationship with Him. How amazing!

I started to wonder whatever happened to Dewey. He was so animated and was able to keep my attention at 15. He humbly took the initiative to share Christ with all of us, which is a step of faith.

I googled his name, found his email and decided to send him a message to express my gratitude. Here’s what I wrote:

“Hello, you don’t know me but I just wanted to thank you for your ministry! I became a Christian back in 1985 between my freshman and sophomore year in high school at Hume Lake. I’m now 51 and have been married for 28 years to my husband Dave. We work for Cru and have been working with young people for the last 30 years. I’ve got twin boys who are in college now. I’m in the process of applying to take some classes in spiritual formation and soul care and am writing my testimony. I’ve never forgotten the impact your talks at Hume Lake made in my life. I distinctly remember you asking the crowd if we were still on the fence in making a decision to follow Christ and I realized I was on the fence and needed to make a decision to follow Him. Thanks for your ministry! I thought I’d look you up online to see what you’ve been up to and I saw your email. I realized I needed to send you a quick email just to thank you for introducing me to Jesus! Here’s a photo of me and my family! Blessings to you and your family. Thanks again for the eternal investment you’re making in people’s lives.”

About a week later, I received this message back from Dewey:

“Jennifer, you Made My Day! I cannot put into words the refreshment your note brought to my parched soul!!! From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!”

I hesitated a bit before I sent the email to him because it was 37 years ago that this event happened! But when I saw his reply, it reminded me that it’s never too late to express gratitude to someone. Gratitude is so powerful, and God’s timing is perfect.

During this season of Lent I’ve been reflecting on how much God has done for me in sending His Son to die for me. When I sit and think of what my life has become through Christ and how He has changed me and continues to change me to become more like Him, my heart is filled with overflowing gratitude.

So….is there someone who comes to mind for whom you are grateful? It’s never too late to share that gratitude. It could be life changing! In what ways are you grateful for God’s presence in your life?

Thank you for your partnership and ministry to us. We are grateful for you!

NOTE: You can check out Dewey’s blog and podcast at: deweybertolini.com or by clicking the image below.