God is good!

January 10, 2022 (Monday)

 

The Psalmist declares there are two reasons to praise and thank God. “Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his faithful love endures forever.” [Psalm 106:1 CEB] First, because God is good (all the time). Second, because God’s steadfast, faithful, and unending love endures forever.

 

Endures. Think about that word for a moment. When I think of “endures,” I think of the person who runs a marathon or drives a snowmobile 500 miles under brutal weather conditions in one day. Here’s the thing, the word “endures” is not in the text. Bummer.

 

Still, the Bible tells us that endurance comes from trials (problems, temptations, difficulties, stress, etc…). Only under stress do our muscles gain strength. Only under stress does our spiritual lives grow strength. Think of it like training. When we endure one thing, it helps us endure the next time (or for more). If feels shocking that the translators would think God needs to endure.

 

The word translated “faithful love” can also be translated “mercy.” God’s inexhaustible love and patience with us is the foundation for the twin needs of mercy (not getting what we deserve… judgement) and grace (getting what we do NOT deserve… salvation).

 

Maybe the translators (almost every translation since and including the KJV) are acknowledging a difficult truth. For God to love us takes endurance on His part (as we understand endurance). Admit it, we can be difficult to love. As a human race we would rather blow ourselves up than cooperate for a common good. I grew up with the certainty that the nations of the world would turn this world into nuclear waste, never mind climate change. Spiritually and personally, how many times to we take that tactic, refusing to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to create or accomplish something useful and positive.

 

The word translated “forever” is actually a word picture. Literally the word means “beyond the horizon.” Remember this is poetry, expressing truth in images. God’s steadfast, faithful, and unending love (The New Testament calls this “grace”) is beyond the seeable or imaginable horizon. This is God’s inexhaustible love and patience.

 

Emphasizing the point, the rest of the Psalm 106 lists the many times Israel failed. Actually, “God delivered them numerous times, but they were determined to rebel” [Psalm 106:43a CEB] They, like we are, “bent on rebellion.” [NIV] Yet, God’s love never fails, never gives up, and never runs out (“One thing remains” by Jesus Culture).