The most celebrated attribute of God throughout the Bible is his love. The Hebrew word for love here in Psalm 136 carries with it the idea of an eternally committed love. This is made explicit throughout the psalm with poetic repetition. God’s love is not a feeling evoked by us, but something unchangeable in God himself. He loves us, because, as John says, “God is love” (1 John 4:8-12). God does not love you and me because we caused that by being lovable. God doesn’t fall in and out of love. His love isn’t dependent on us at all. No, God loves us because that is who he is. God loves you because he is love. You can’t make God not love you because you can’t change who God is. God may hate what we become, and he may get angry with us, but these responses to our decisions are grounded in his love. God may express his love to us in special ways, as he does when he makes certain covenant commitments to us in Christ. But this special covenant love that arises from God’s free sovereign choice, is also grounded in the love that is an essential part of his being. The greatest expression of God’s love for us is seen in what he did for us in the sacrificial death of Christ. In this way he reconciled us to his love. You cannot change who God is and you cannot undo what Christ did for you. You can spurn God’s love but you cannot thereby quench its everlasting flow. Know then that you are loved by God and never doubt it.
Reflect on God’s love for you.
Read Psalm 136.
