Thanks for the Lord’s Goodness to Israel.

1            ^aGive thanks to the Lord, for ^bHe is good, For ^cHis lovingkindness is everlasting.

2            Give thanks to the ^aGod of gods, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

3            Give thanks to the ^aLord of lords, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

4            To Him who ^aalone does great ¹wonders, For His lovingkindness is everlasting;

5            To Him who ^amade the heavens ^1bwith skill, For His lovingkindness is everlasting;

6            To Him who ^aspread out the earth above the waters, For His lovingkindness is everlasting;

7            To Him who ^amade the great lights, For His lovingkindness is everlasting:

8            The ^asun to rule ¹by day, For His lovingkindness is everlasting,

9            The ^amoon and stars to rule ¹by night, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

10            To Him who ^asmote ¹the Egyptians in their firstborn, For His lovingkindness is everlasting,

11            And ^abrought Israel out from their midst, For His lovingkindness is everlasting,

12            With a ^astrong hand and an ^boutstretched arm,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

13            To Him who ^adivided the ¹Red Sea ²asunder, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, ^[1]

There is always something to be thankful for regardless of the circumstances of life!  The repetition of this Psalm captures our attention as we consider the message itself!  The love of God endures forever!  This truthful statement on the love of God is the most quintessential statement of God’s revelation in what He want us to understand about Him!  The importance of this truth must be given to us in repetition to penetrate our stubborn heart, to be established in our minds amidst the mental clutter we have accumulated, to stokes the flames of faith and hope that have been reduced to dimly burning wicks by life itself, and to give us the courage to step into the journey that God Himself invites us into!

First and foremost, we must know that God is good, an attribute of God that is uniquely Christian!  With that, we also embrace by faith that goodness is of God and bigger than our minds can understand, but this embracing in your heart that God is good gives us the strength to carry on when life is not good (v.1).  So we press on towards the goal with a thankful heart because the LORD is the True God and time reveals the impotence of  the false gods we have manufactured through the corrupt endeavors of sinful desires.  Those gods take many forms, money, career, fame, social status, the home we built, the kids we raise, a pretty girl or a handsome man, and every other thing that directs our vision from God to self, from virtue to vice, from seeking the Kingdom of God to a kingdom of our design (vv.2 – 3)!

The LORD is the God of wonders!  He alone forms babies in the womb, produces the rain and rainbows, the warmth of the sun and the fruit of the seasons; who can explain how the grass grows or why birds fly in formation; He daily gives us the mystery of sleep, the fruit of rest, and the breath of life!  The earth stays on course with the perfect tilt and rotation to sustain life, the perfect distance from the sun with the gravitational balance of the moon, that we would enjoy the ocean waters, majestic sunsets, romantic moonlit nights, producing in us a sense of awe and a tolerance for mystery, that foster a childlike faith that prompts our imagination to ponder the depths of His Power, His Glory, and His Majesty, all on display in creation by His goodness and His love that endures forever (vv.4 – 9)!!!

In consideration of the condition of man, together we must conclude that mankind is in no condition to determine what is just and what is unjust apart from what God has told us!  Finite in nature means that we are limited in understanding, plagued by sin means that our vision of what is right is corrupted, and held captive by time and space means that we can never see the big picture on our own.  With these truths, we are prone to make wholesale judgements based on one frame or two of the whole movie.  We must be honest about our limitations if we are going to walk with God in a manner to which we are called, that is humbly, and trusting, and to exercise justice as He has revealed it to us (Micah 6:8).  God delivered Israel from the hands of the Egyptians with a righteous judgment and He parted the Red Sea to demonstrate His power and love, but to this day neither walk with God (vv.10 – 13).  The Lord Jesus wept over Jerusalem because the missed the day of visitation, but thanks be to God that He has called others (John 10:16) to fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant filling the House of God with people from every nation (Revelation 7:9 – 12), because His Love Endures Forever!!!

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^a 1 Chr 16:34; Ps 106:1; 107:1; 118:1; Jer 33:11

^b 2 Chr 5:13; 7:3; Ezra 3:11; Ps 100:5

^c 1 Chr 16:41; 2 Chr 20:21; Ps 118:1–4

^a Deut 10:17

^a Deut 10:17

^a Deut 6:22; Job 9:10; Ps 72:18

¹ I.e. wonderful acts

^a Gen 1:1

¹ Lit with understanding

^b Ps 104:24; Prov 3:19; Jer 10:12; 51:15

^a Gen 1:2, 6, 9; Ps 24:2; Is 42:5; 44:24; Jer 10:12

^a Gen 1:14–18; Ps 74:16

^a Gen 1:16

¹ Or over the

^a Gen 1:16

¹ Or over the

^a Ex 12:29; Ps 78:51; 135:8

¹ Lit Egypt

^a Ex 12:51; 13:3; Ps 105:43

^a Ex 6:1; 13:9; 1 Kin 8:42; Neh 1:10; Ps 44:3; Jer 32:21

^b Ex 6:6; Deut 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 9:29; 11:2; 2 Kin 17:36; 2 Chr 6:32; Jer 32:17

^a Ex 14:21; Ps 66:6; 78:13

¹ Lit Sea of Reeds

² Lit in parts

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ps 136:1–13.