As I was reading my Bible today, I had the pleasure of reading Psalm 136. You might be familiar with this Psalm because it’s a testimony about God’s love enduring forever and why we should give thanks to Him. Yesterday, when I wrote about learning how to pray, I mentioned that we ought to open in prayer with adoration to God. That is, making declarations of who He is and how great He is. I also mentioned that it’s good to give Scripture back to God when we pray. We know Heaven and earth will pass away but God’s word will never pass away.

However, as I was reading through Psalm 136 today, it occurred to me that we all should have a Psalm 136 of our own. Let’s take a look at this Psalm and see how it relates to our lives.

The first three verses of this Psalm declare who God is.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:1-3 (NIV)

Because God is unchanging, we can rest in the truth of these verses, and we can all include these verses into our own Psalm 136.

The next six verses remind us of how majestic, awesome, and powerful God is.

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.
the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever.
the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:4-9 (NIV)

When we read these verses, we can only marvel at the power and breadth of God. From the fourth verse that tells us only God can do great wonders, to then telling us how He does them in verse five “by his understanding.” We then read what some of those wonders are in verses six through nine. If you’re like me, you might look out your window and think about how everything was created by God by speaking it into being. However, you might, like me, be overwhelmed by all that you see. Unable, really, to take it in and comprehend it. We could include these six verses in our own Psalm 136, but it would be awesome to add something of our own. It might seem silly, but I like to marvel at the color green. It’s my favorite color, and God made it! He made green and every derivative that stems from it. The same God who made the color green knows my name and loves me! Wow!

From verse 10 and onward, we read a testimony of what God has done for the Israelites. This is where we can really personalize our own Psalm 136. However, there are many similarities between the Israelites and Christians today. Verses 11 tells us God “brought Israel out from among them [Egypt]” (Psalm 136:11 NIV). When the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt, God delivered them from it. We were all in the bondage of the world before we were saved, and God has delivered us too. As we read on, in verses 13-16, we read about God parting the Red Sea and leading the people through the wilderness (Psalm 136:13-16). I don’t know about you, but God has moved mountains and parted seas in my life and guided me through many a rough “wilderness.”

As I consider the list of kings God struck down in verses 17-20, I remember the “kings” that used to rule over my life. There’s sin, of course. Then, depression, what a terrible dictator it was. Oh, and that sleep disorder I was born with. That thing did its best to govern my sleep, as well as my waking life. Because of the medication, I took for it, my traveling and exploration of this earth He created were diminished. Yes, I’m certain we all have those “kings” that used to rule over us that God has delivered us from. We should put that into our own Psalm 136 as well.

We know God can take from the wicked and give what they had to the righteous (Ecclesiastes 2:26, Proverbs 13:22). This is what we see in verses 21-22 of Psalm 136. When I think about it, those “kings” in my life: sin, depression, and that sleep disorder, held life, freedom, joy, and all sorts of other things captive that the Lord has given back to me. If God did it for me, then I know He can do it for you too, and it would make a great addition to your own Psalm 136.

The last four verses of Psalm 136 apply to all of us as well.

He remembered us in our low estate. His love endures forever.
and freed us from our enemies. His love endures forever.
He gives food to every creature. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:23:-26 (NIV)

“While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 KJV). This is how God demonstrates His love for us and shows us He remembers us. In doing so, He freed us from all of our enemies and has given us victory through Christ! I cannot say enough about this. If God does nothing else for us, this would be enough, wouldn’t it? But praise be to God because to Him, it’s not enough!

Sometimes you might read the Bible and have a hard time finding it relevant to your life. Today, however, we’ve seen through Psalm 136 that we each could write our own Psalm 136, declaring how great, awesome, and mighty our God is. His love endures forever!

Do you know God? God knows you and He loves you. He sees you as significant because you are. No one is insignificant to Him. He’s with you today, right now, and He wants you to know Him. Jesus died for your sins and mine so we could be free of guilt, be freed from death, and live eternally with Him. Eternal salvation is just a prayer away.

Pray this prayer with me to accept the gift of salvation today:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer then congratulations! You are on the first step of a brand new life. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to my family, the family of God. There are abundant resources available online for new Christians. You can visit here for more information on what to do next. You can also leave me a comment, and I’ll do my best to help you on the next step of this incredible journey.

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