Psalm 136

Once upon a time our gangly teenagers were much smaller, and it was nearly impossible to go anywhere and get out the door on time. Sunday mornings were no exception. It didn’t matter how early everyone woke up or what time we started the process of getting everyone fed and dressed in Sunday best. It seemed that we always arrived at church grumpy, crying, or not liking each other very much...and sometimes all of the above! 

I hated that we started the Lord’s day by rushing around and with less than loving feelings, so one Sunday on the drive to church I asked each family member to say one nice thing about each other.

We started saying our “nice things” each Sunday on our way to church. Sometimes it took a few minutes for an extra salty child to chime in, but hearing nice things about themselves from their family softened even the grumpiest of hearts! After a while the kids would even start saying nice things before I needed to remind them, and oftentimes they chose more than one nice thing to say to each other. 

Some Sundays those “nice things” were really easy to come up with, and some Sundays we had to dig deep to think of something we genuinely liked about each other. Every time, regardless of the events of the morning leading up to it, “nice things” begat “nice things.” This family experiment helped recalibrate the hearts and minds of all who participated, and a bonus: we began to arrive at church on time and in more pleasant frames of mind!

The psalmist in Psalm 136 recorded a list detailing God’s greatness, power, provision, and mercy. Psalm 136 is a running history of God’s love: it served as a reminder of God’s faithfulness to the people who first read its words and to everyone who has read it since. Just as my family’s “nice things” experiment served as a way of remembering all there was to be grateful for around each family member, Psalm 136 can serve as a reminder for us, God’s children, of his everlasting love.

The Bible tells us that there’s a season for everything (Ecclesiastes 3), but our God remains the same. Choosing to be grateful in every circumstance can be a challenge, but doing so recalibrates our hearts and minds to Him. Take a few minutes today and make your own list, a la Psalm 136, of the ways God has been faithful to you. Type it out, write it down, and put it somewhere where you’ll see it regularly.

To read or re-read the overview/summary of this week’s passage, you can click here.