Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. 

Psalm 136

There are 26 verses to Psalm 136.

26 times, the writer of the Psalm expresses something amazing God has done or is doing, and 26 times the response rings out, “His Love endures forever.”

That’s a lot of love. And a lot of time.

The scope of the psalm is massive. It traces God’s work from creation, liberation, the journey to the promised land, and God’s present help. It’s a wide brush, made to encompass the vastness of God’s love.

But today, I’m not thinking in terms of millennia, I’m thinking of the next 7 hours of work on this hot Tuesday afternoon. I have a pile of things to do on my list, but nothing particularly challenging or even that interesting. I feel just kind of stuck in another day, just living my life, moment to moment.

It occurs to me that if I were writing this psalm, I might make it a little more intimate:

Give thanks to God, who helped me make a tough phone call.
His love endures forever.
God is good, and guided my hand as I filled out this spreadsheet.
His love endures forever.

That kind of thing. What I realize today is that forever doesn’t just stretch to the beginning and the end of time, forever includes every moment in between. Even this one. And this one.

Forever is a long time, and it’s made up of not just the sweeping work of God across eons, but also the God that is with us on the Tuesday afternoons

that stretch on…

forever.

Have a great week,

Mitch