The God of Enduring Mercy
Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
– Psalm 136:1 (NKJV)
The psalmist uses the sentence “For His mercy endures forever” 26 times in Psalm 136. Chronicling the mighty works of the Lord since the dawn of creation, each stanza concludes with these words, reminding the reader not just what God did, but why He did it.
Even when all hope seems lost, God’s mercy sustains and delivers us. The Hebrews feared as they stood caught between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s magnificent army, but did the Lord abandon them in that hour? No! He delivered them all in His mercy, every last man, and completely destroyed the Egyptian army as they pursued them through the sea (Exod. 14).
One might think that perhaps the Hebrews were deserving of being rescued, that perhaps God owed them some debt which He was obliged to repay. Nothing could be further from the truth! God owes us nothing; we owe Him everything.
God did not rescue the Hebrews and overthrow Pharaoh because they were simply deserving of it (vv 13-15). Neither does God remember us in “our lowly state” because He owes us a debt of any kind (v 23). What, then, is His motivation? For His mercy endures forever.
Within this psalm, we find the reason behind every blessing which God dispenses to mankind. The refrain echoes throughout Scripture–His mercy endures forever.
We, as fallen humans, have been conditioned to not expect mercy. When we sin against God, we tense up in fear, often expecting Him to act harshly against us. Surely, everyone’s mercy and patience has limits! We naturally fear that if we sin, we will reach God’s limit as well.
Oh no, now I’ve done it, we think. Now God will bring the hammer down on me. And we wait for the blow to fall. We expect that God will begin inflicting difficulties upon us to “teach us a lesson”, to punish us, or both. Or, worse yet, He might choose to withhold His goodness from us entirely–subjecting us to a life of pure and utter misery.
I recall one episode of my life in which I had committed an especially grievous sin against the Lord. When convicted by the Spirit of my wrongdoing, I begged the Lord’s forgiveness and repented. Praise be to God, my life bore fruit of true repentance, yet I felt wholly unworthy of any further blessing from the Lord in that area of my life. I was fully expecting Him to deal harshly with me for a lengthy period of time. Great was my surprise and joy, however, when He did just the opposite. Instead of further punishment, He bestowed upon me such a great blessing as I could scarcely believe. And through this blessing I learned something–God does not deal heavy-handedly with His children–He disciplines them just enough for their good, and no more. How do I know this? I can tell you: For His mercy endures forever.
Now, this is not to say that we will suffer no earthly consequences of our sin. There have and will be many times when the natural effects of our sin are felt quite keenly. But God is merciful in these also, providing guidance and comfort to us through His Spirit and fellow believers as He continues to complete the good work which He has started in us (Phil. 1:6).
God’s mercy is independent of us. It is diluted by neither trial nor hardship, nor is it dependent on human efforts. No one deserves God’s mercy, and yet He bestows blessings to all (Matt. 5:45). How truly incredible is this, that One so good, so kind and merciful, could exist and care about the likes of us while we were yet His enemies! It is truly a wonder to behold.
For His mercy endures forever. This sentence is not repeated because the psalmist ran out of creative ways to end each stanza of his psalm. Themes which are often repeated in Scripture are often worth paying special attention to. The psalmist here is telling us something of marvelous importance–he is revealing to us the very reason that God has any interaction with fallen man at all.
We often need reminding of these truths. As seen so clearly with the Hebrews in the desert, we have an unwavering ability to forget all that the Lord has done in His mercy. What can we do to keep our minds and hearts sharply tuned to God?
Part of the answer is found in Deuteronomy 6:6, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.” This is why the memorization of Scripture is so important. It is a constant refresher to remind us what God has said and revealed about Himself, and how we should live in light of it. If you are not already doing so, choose a passage to memorize which sheds light on an area of God’s character you wish to learn more about, and memorize it! I assure you that you will find it richly rewarding. I have found personal benefit in this as I have studied God’s mercy, and He has drawn me closer to Himself through it. This study has been most edifying, and I am convinced that should you choose to undertake such a study, it will be the same for you.
If it were not for God’s mercy, we would all be dead, physically and spiritually. And yet, here we stand, alive both in body and in Christ (Eph. 2:5). God is so merciful towards us that He not only gave us physical life but He gave of Himself His own Son, so that in His death, we might have eternal life with God, and life abundantly (John 10:10).
Rejoice, therefore, in counting daily the tender mercies of our Father in heaven. Whether they be great or small, loud or subtle, in times of trial or of ease, treasure this truth in your heart:
His mercy endures forever.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; They are new every morning; Great is your faithfulness. –Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)
Start hiding Psalm 136 in your heart today! Tap here to download the free collection of Psalm 136 in VerseLocker.
The psalmist uses the sentence “For His mercy endures forever” 26 times in Psalm 136. Chronicling the mighty works of the Lord since the dawn of creation, each stanza concludes with these words, reminding the reader not just what God did, but why He did it.
Even when all hope seems lost, God’s mercy sustains and delivers us. The Hebrews feared as they stood caught between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s magnificent army, but did the Lord abandon them in that hour? No! He delivered them all in His mercy, every last man, and completely destroyed the Egyptian army as they pursued them through the sea (Exod. 14).
One might think that perhaps the Hebrews were deserving of being rescued, that perhaps God owed them some debt which He was obliged to repay. Nothing could be further from the truth! God owes us nothing; we owe Him everything.
God did not rescue the Hebrews and overthrow Pharaoh because they were simply deserving of it (vv 13-15). Neither does God remember us in “our lowly state” because He owes us a debt of any kind (v 23). What, then, is His motivation? For His mercy endures forever.
Within this psalm, we find the reason behind every blessing which God dispenses to mankind. The refrain echoes throughout Scripture–His mercy endures forever.
We, as fallen humans, have been conditioned to not expect mercy. When we sin against God, we tense up in fear, often expecting Him to act harshly against us. Surely, everyone’s mercy and patience has limits! We naturally fear that if we sin, we will reach God’s limit as well.
Oh no, now I’ve done it, we think. Now God will bring the hammer down on me. And we wait for the blow to fall. We expect that God will begin inflicting difficulties upon us to “teach us a lesson”, to punish us, or both. Or, worse yet, He might choose to withhold His goodness from us entirely–subjecting us to a life of pure and utter misery.
I recall one episode of my life in which I had committed an especially grievous sin against the Lord. When convicted by the Spirit of my wrongdoing, I begged the Lord’s forgiveness and repented. Praise be to God, my life bore fruit of true repentance, yet I felt wholly unworthy of any further blessing from the Lord in that area of my life. I was fully expecting Him to deal harshly with me for a lengthy period of time. Great was my surprise and joy, however, when He did just the opposite. Instead of further punishment, He bestowed upon me such a great blessing as I could scarcely believe. And through this blessing I learned something–God does not deal heavy-handedly with His children–He disciplines them just enough for their good, and no more. How do I know this? I can tell you: For His mercy endures forever.
Now, this is not to say that we will suffer no earthly consequences of our sin. There have and will be many times when the natural effects of our sin are felt quite keenly. But God is merciful in these also, providing guidance and comfort to us through His Spirit and fellow believers as He continues to complete the good work which He has started in us (Phil. 1:6).
God’s mercy is independent of us. It is diluted by neither trial nor hardship, nor is it dependent on human efforts. No one deserves God’s mercy, and yet He bestows blessings to all (Matt. 5:45). How truly incredible is this, that One so good, so kind and merciful, could exist and care about the likes of us while we were yet His enemies! It is truly a wonder to behold.
For His mercy endures forever. This sentence is not repeated because the psalmist ran out of creative ways to end each stanza of his psalm. Themes which are often repeated in Scripture are often worth paying special attention to. The psalmist here is telling us something of marvelous importance–he is revealing to us the very reason that God has any interaction with fallen man at all.
We often need reminding of these truths. As seen so clearly with the Hebrews in the desert, we have an unwavering ability to forget all that the Lord has done in His mercy. What can we do to keep our minds and hearts sharply tuned to God?
Part of the answer is found in Deuteronomy 6:6, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.” This is why the memorization of Scripture is so important. It is a constant refresher to remind us what God has said and revealed about Himself, and how we should live in light of it. If you are not already doing so, choose a passage to memorize which sheds light on an area of God’s character you wish to learn more about, and memorize it! I assure you that you will find it richly rewarding. I have found personal benefit in this as I have studied God’s mercy, and He has drawn me closer to Himself through it. This study has been most edifying, and I am convinced that should you choose to undertake such a study, it will be the same for you.
If it were not for God’s mercy, we would all be dead, physically and spiritually. And yet, here we stand, alive both in body and in Christ (Eph. 2:5). God is so merciful towards us that He not only gave us physical life but He gave of Himself His own Son, so that in His death, we might have eternal life with God, and life abundantly (John 10:10).
Rejoice, therefore, in counting daily the tender mercies of our Father in heaven. Whether they be great or small, loud or subtle, in times of trial or of ease, treasure this truth in your heart:
His mercy endures forever.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; They are new every morning; Great is your faithfulness. –Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)
Start hiding Psalm 136 in your heart today! Tap here to download the free collection of Psalm 136 in VerseLocker.
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