Thought from today’s Bible reading from 2 Chronicles 6-7; Psalm 136.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting” (Psalm 136:1).
The first verse of this psalm contains the phrase, “for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” This refrain is repeated in each of the psalm’s twenty-six verses. Clearly, God’s lovingkindness it is a fact that should be impressed upon us.
The psalmist gives several examples of God’s everlasting lovingkindness that we would probably expect:
- He is good (v. 1)
- He is over all (v. 2-3)
- He is the Creator (v. 4-9)
- He delivered Israel out of bondage (v. 11-14)
- He gave them the land (v. 21-22)
- He is mindful of us (v. 23)
- He rescues us from adversaries (v. 24)
- He gives food to all flesh (v. 25)
But there are also some other interesting examples given:
- He smote the firstborn of Egypt (v. 10)
- He overthrew Pharaoh and his army (v. 15)
- He smote great kings (v. 17-20)
How is it that these things can be classified as God’s everlasting lovingkindness?
God shows kindness to those who are faithful to Him, even to the point of punishing those who reject Him and would wish to hinder God’s people from serving Him. Though God does not continue to deal directly in the affairs of men today as He did during Biblical times, the psalmist’s point is essentially the same. For those who are faithful, God will bless and reward them. For those who reject Him, He will punish, not for some arbitrary or unfair reason, but because they chose to disobey Him.
God will save all those who will choose to obey Him. “For His lovingkindness is everlasting.”
Tomorrow’s reading: Psalm 134, 146-150
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
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