Weekly Reflection July 22, 2021

Text: Psalm 136:1 Theme: “Forever Mercy!”

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, how often we have prayed part of this Psalm when giving thanks for a meal or for blessings received. The words seem to just roll off our tongue without ever really giving much thought to them. Yet the Psalm shares not just a thought of giving thanks but praise for all you have and will do. So, open our hearts today to hear and to respond in praise for all You do for us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, and His mercy endures forever. Sounds familiar doesn’t it. It does sound familiar as we have all said this part of the Psalm many times in our lives. Psalm 136:1 was that familiar part we all have said. But the last part is what is repeated throughout the Psalm. Not matter what God has or will do the Psalmist shares the common response of God’s mercy being there forever. Yet the Hebrew shares a little different view on this verse as it talks of God’s forever mercy. Mercy, lovingkindness, steadfast love all comes from the same root word. All the words are centered in God’s goodness for His creation and for all His creatures. Though when the word mercy is used many people gravitate towards the New Testament usage of that word. They think of how God has saved the world from their sins. His great act of mercy was the sending of Jesus to die on the cross to forgive all our sins, to rise victoriously from the dead, to ascend into heaven to show us what mercy does. In mercy God sends His Spirit to give us faith so that we will receive and live in that mercy as His children. So how does this Psalm reflect that forever mercy? Let us look a little closer at this Psalm. This Psalm probably was one of the used in the celebration of the . It is known at the Great or the Great Psalm of Praise. The Passover celebration was the remembrance of how God in His mercy delivered His people from slavery and allowed them to go to their promised land. Jesus used the Passover celebration to leave a meal for us that reminds us of how He has freed us from the slavery of sin and allows us to go to our promised land. Both were reminders of the great mercy of God. But more important was the reminder of the forever mercy of God. He never forgets His people with His never-ending love. This is where it gets tricky. How does love and mercy become interchangeable in this foreverness. Notice how the Psalm moves through the other verses. The Psalmist talks about God being the only one God. He talks about the creating God. The Psalmist then goes into all the times God has delivered His people. Forever mercy because of His forever love. What about you and me? How have we been the objects of God’s forever mercy and love? So, what made you so special that God wanted you to be a part of His kingdom? When you were born what was there about you that God said, “I have to have this special person in my kingdom?” If this is true, then why were you baptized? If you were so special to God that He had to have you in His kingdom, why did not He let you know that? If He is the God of forever mercy and love as well as power, could He have not let you or your parents know this? Here is where the problem comes in. This little issue called sin. You know that character flaw that we are all born with. That character flaw that does not want anything to do with God. That character flaw that gets us into trouble with God. That character flaw that causes death. If we were so special to God, we must not have had that character flaw or God overlooked it in us. Yet that is not true. Nobody is exempt from that character flaw. No one is so special that God overlooks that flaw in them. This is where that forever mercy and love steps in. In the act of Baptism, God’s love and mercy come into our lives. In that act of Baptism, we do become special to God. We then become a part of that forever kingdom and family of God. It is always what God does, as that is what His forever mercy and love is all about. It is about us. That has always been His intent and why the people of the offered up their praise to Him. It is what the New Testament people found in that word mercy. Someone who loved them so much that He wanted to do all He could to make them special, forever. Forever, what the words of hope and comfort offer to us with character flaws. Forever, to know that in mercy I am forgiven and a part of God’s family here and in eternity. After all isn’t that goal of forever? In His name.

Closing Prayer: “Today thy Mercy Calls Us” LSB, #915, Verses 4.

O all-embracing Mercy, O ever open door. What should we do without You When heart and eye run o’er? When all things seem against us, to drive us to despair, We know one gate is open, One ear will hear our prayer. Amen.