Psalm 136:1 (NIV)
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.
In 2001, contemporary Christian singer/songwriter Chris Tomlin released “Forever”, which went on to become a staple in most churches that utilize contemporary praise & worship music. Even though Tomlin released it originally in 2001, it is perhaps Michael W. Smith’s live recording (that came out later that year) that most of us are used to hearing. Either way, it is one of the most oft sung songs in churches around the world, and for good reason as it echoes over and over again the main point of today’s psalm:
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever (v. 1)
In fact, “His love endures forever” is in every one of the twenty-six verses in Psalm 136! Theologian James Boice notes that, “In Jewish tradition Psalm 136 has been called the Great Hallel (or Great Psalm of Praise). It does not use the words hallelu jah, but it is called the Great Hallel for the way it rehearses God’s goodness in regard to his people and encourages them to praise him for his merciful and steadfast love.” The key to all of this, and to this psalm, is the fact that God is GOOD—a fundamental fact to all that He is and does. We know, of course, that God is love (1 Jn. 4:8, 16), but that love flows out of his goodness. Spurgeon notes, rather beautifully, that God is “…good beyond all others; indeed, he alone is good in the highest sense; he is the source of good, the good of all good, the sustainer of good, the perfecter of good, and the rewarder of good. For this he deserves the constant gratitude of his people.”
God’s love endures forever because of His goodness. Do you think of God as good? The problem of evil and suffering is cited as the number one reason people choose to reject Christianity, because if God is all good and all powerful, then how can evil and suffering possibly exist? Either he is not good—which makes him a monster—or he is not all powerful, which makes him something unworthy of our worship. It is an effective argument, for which there are solid answers, but it is based on a sin-tainted understanding of what “good” is in the first place. Jesus declared, “No one is good—except God alone” (Lk. 18:19). First John 1:5 tells us that “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” To say that God is good means that God always acts in accordance to what is right, true, and good. Goodness is part of God’s nature, and He cannot contradict His nature. The fact that God is good means that He has no evil in Him, His intentions and motivations are always good, He always does what is right, and the outcome of His plan is always good (see Genesis 50:20). Evil, then, is simply the absence of goodness, or in other words, evil is everything that God is not.
Psalm 136 then applies God’s goodness to all kinds of natural wonders as well as his deliverances of His holy people. From the wonders of the heavens to the deliverance from Pharaoh, God’s goodness reins and his love “endures forever.” That is a reality that cannot change or shift underneath you. That is a fact that should always offer us hope and should always undergird our worship. God can be trusted in all things because He is Good! We may not always be able to see the good that He is doing, but we can always trust in it. There is so much that we can’t see and/or know, so we have to go with what we do have…and there is ample evidence of God’s goodness all around us, throughout history, in His Word, and in our own lives. His love endures forever because of His goodness, and that goodness was extended to you on a cross two thousand years ago and even more so when you became His child through faith in Jesus Christ!
