Every verse in this beautiful psalm ends with the refrain,
“For His mercy endures forever”. Over the years as I have read this psalm my
heart leaps for joy as I read this phrase over and over again, some twenty-six
times! I don’t know about you, but I desperately need His mercy every day! I am
so thankful that God’s steadfast love never ends or that He never gives up on
me! He is so patient with me as I falter and fail over and over again! We
definitely join this anonymous psalmist by giving thanks daily to triune God of
heaven!

Remember, the focus of Psalm 136 is on giving thanks to God
for who He is and what He has done for His people. The psalmist begins by
giving thanks to the LORD as the creator of the universe! The psalmist started
at the beginning of time with the creation of the universe, recorded in Genesis
1. The Lord had the wisdom to plan creation and the power to execute that plan,
and all He had to do was to speak the Word (Psalm 33:6-9).

As you read these verses and think about them, it is hard
to believer that there are people who call themselves atheist and say they
don’t believe in God! Everything that God created had a special and unique
design that had a specific purpose. It would take more than faith to believe
that a big bang took place trillions of years ago and eventually everything we
see and enjoy today somehow, or another just happened! I choose to put my faith
and trust in the Bible and God’s record of creation and stand amaze at how
awesome my God is!

Because humanity refused to be thankful for creation,
mankind began that terrible descent into ignorance, idolatry, immorality, and
ultimate judgment (Rom. 1:18-32). In the day or the night, whether we look up
at the heavens or down at the earth and waters, we should see evidence of the
hand of God and realize that a Creator brought it forth from nothing. In this
creation is all that we need for life and work, so let us thank Him!

Not only did God create us He redeems us and brings us out
of the bondage and slavery of sin. Only a couple chapters after the record of
God’s creative acts in Genesis 1-2, man disobeys God and sins, and then faces
the consequence of death. But God is not caught off guard and already has a
plan to save mankind from his sin and it is through the nation of Israel.
Through them we were given the Bible and a Redeemer and Savior. The psalmist
quickly turns to this great act of God in the history of Israel and their
deliverance.

The psalmist wrote nothing about Israel's years of
suffering in Egypt, or the Lord's judgments against the gods of Egypt (Ex.
12:12) but focused on the Exodus. "Brought out" is a phrase
the Jewish people used to describe their deliverance (Deut. 1:27; 4:20, 37;
5:6; 16:1). By the time Israel crossed the Red Sea, the land of Egypt, its
firstborn sons, its religion, and its army had been destroyed by the power of
God. The Exodus marked the birthday of the nation of Israel, and from that
time, the Jews looked back each year at Passover and remembered what the Lord
had done for them.

The Exodus is also a picture of the redemption we have in
Jesus Christ, the spotless lamb of God who shed His blood to set sinners free
(1 Peter 1:18-19; John 1:29; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; Heb. 9:12). God's mighty arm
was revealed at the Exodus (Ex. 15:16), but it was revealed even more at the
cross (Isa. 53:1-12; Luke 1:51).

Again, we must give thanks to the LORD and loudly proclaim,
“For His mercy endures forever!”

God bless!