Does the love of God still feel like breaking news in your life? If we’re honest, sometimes the “old, old story” seems, well, old to us, particularly if we’ve been a Christian for many years. But the writers of Scripture never tire of recounting this theme. They never take it for granted.
Psalm 136 gives us a vivid picture of what keeping God’s steadfast love front and center looks like in the life story of God’s people. It begins with thanksgiving to God (v.1–3) and recites Israel’s history from the creation of the world (v.4–9), through the exodus (v.10–16), and into the promised land (v.17–22). In fact, there are several other psalms that rehearse Israel’s story, including Psalms 78, 105, 106, and 135. But Psalm 136 is unique for the phrase that is repeated in every single verse—a total of 26 times!—“for his steadfast love endures forever.”
In one sense, the story reads more smoothly without the refrain. Just try reading the first half of each verse aloud and skip the refrain, and you will see that it’s quite coherent. Doing this, however, would subvert the inspired poet’s aim, which we start to grasp when we read it aloud all
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