Enduring love

Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Chris Simmonds:

What did I like about today’s passage?

Our first Psalm paints the picture of a universe birthed and sustained in love. This conviction of a benign loving intentionality undergirding everything we see and experience is laced throughout the Hebrew writings and lays a solid foundation for the teachings of Jesus:

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever….
to him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever.
who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.
who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever.
who made the great lights—
His love endures forever.

Now we me you may well struggle with the celebration of death and violence and the attribution of this to God in the second half of this Psalm. We must remember that the theology of most people groups at this point in history was that their God (or gods) were worshipped and sacrificed to for the benefit of their nation over and above the interests of any others. We often see in the Hebrew bible a tension between this nation-centric view of their God and the more universal vision of a God who loves all peoples and cultures. I love that in Psalm 138, one of these more enlightened glimpses of God breaks through:

Every king in all the earth will give you thanks, O LORD,
For all of them will hear your words

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

The repeated refrain – ‘His faithful love endures forever’ acts almost like a one-line chorus, imprinting this truth on the mind and heart of the worshipper. Psalm 137 is a very different Psalm, lamenting the loss of Jerusalem, and with it the honour of the people and their God.

However dark and lost our present experience might be, or however frail and limited our consciousness of God’s love might be, let’s lean on this truth that his love knows no bounds and far exceeds even our most optimistic hopes. We are all intended, known and loved, together with all of creation – and we can experience this, especially in our most desperate moments. This is something worth celebrating!

What am I going to do differently as a result?

I love the idea of breath prayers and will try using this prayer ‘His faithful love endures forever’ this week, asking God’s spirit to embed this truth more deeply within me as I do this. Let’s all declare this wonderful truth over ourselves and our communities as we go about our lives this week!

Who am I going to share this with?

The Americans have just celebrated Thanksgiving. The next time I meet with others to pray I love the idea of people taking turns to speak out things they’re thankful for, interspersed with everyone repeating this refrain – ‘His love endures forever’.