God's Love Never Quits

Thank God! He deserves your thanks. His love never quits. Thank the God of all gods, His love never quits. Thank the Lord of all lords. His love never quits (Psalm 136:1-3, The Message).   Gratitude is not natural; it certainly does not come easily for most of us. Many Christians bristle at the biblical instructions to give thanks. When I preach on a text such as "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:18), the most common response is guilt. Even seasoned Christ followers tend to struggle with discontent. Is there anything to be done about this? Are there things we can do to develop, as they say, 'an attitude of gratitude'? Can we Christians move from disgruntlement to thanksgiving? The answer is yes. Nothing happens in the Christian life without the movement of the Holy Spirit, so prayer for the Spirit's working is the place to start. And the first aid of the Holy Spirit is the Word of God. A text such Psalm 136 is a place the Spirit might direct us to. We cannot be sure who originally composed this song or when. But we do know, from its language, that it was adapted by Israel's musicians for post-exilic worship. It was in those days, when Israel was greatly diminished from her glory days of David and Solomon, when she remained largely under the thumb of foreign armies, that this psalm was retooled to nurture the faith of the returned remnant worshipping in temple that looked like a hovel compared to Solomon's. This psalm encouraged Israel not to get fixated on the stuff of this earth, but rather on the goodness and love of her God. When our focus is on the things of this earth, even such things as happiness, gratitude is generally far away. North America ranks near the top of the world's wealth list but also near the top of the world's unhappiest. The Spirit and the Word draw the eyes of faith away from such things to focus on our God. The opening paragraphs of Our World Belongs to God articulate the momentum of this song for us, "As followers of Jesus Christ, living in this world-which some seek to control, and others view with despair-we declare with joy and trust: Our world belongs to God! From the beginning, through all the crises of our times, until the kingdom fully comes, God keeps covenant forever: Our world belongs to God! God is King: Let the earth be glad! Christ is victor: his rule has begun! The Spirit is at work: creation is renewed! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!" The psalm invites Israel to consider God's character and behaviour throughout her history. Despite Israel's propensity to neglect God, God remained faithful. Whenever Israel sinned, God came after her. Eugene Peterson's rendition of this psalm's refrain is spot on, "His love never quits." All around us, human love quits. It quits in our marriages, in our friendships, in our neighbourhoods, in our churches; we still quit on God. The only love that has never quit is Gods. Even though God sent Israel into exile, he followed her. And he brought her back. Initially, he liberated her from Egypt, then he rescued her from Babylon. Like wise, he comes to us in our sin and redeems us through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.  "This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God" (1 John 4:10-11 The Message). Every Passover, the Jewish people use this psalm to retell the story of their salvation. God heard the Israelites' cries for deliverance from servitude to the Egyptians and brought them into the Promised Land. By remembering God's provision of salvation, the Israelites were reminded of his enduring love. Jesus saves us from our servitude to sin; he is our Passover lamb. We have not yet entered our promised land, the new heavens and earth, but by faith we believe that God is even now, preparing it for us. It is this faith, in God's redeeming work in Christ, which will be completed when he returns, it is this faith which causes gratitude to well up in our hearts. Seeing what we have in Christ is the way to thanksgiving.