His mercy endures forever

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the God of gods! For His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords! For His mercy endures forever: To Him who alone does great wonders, For His mercy endures forever; To Him who by wisdom made the heavens, For His mercy endures forever; - Psalm 136v1-5

We hear a lot of remarks today about songs that repeat the same phrase over and over again. Sometimes they are ridiculed (occasionally with just cause), but we cannot just write them off. While I may not like it all, it is not necessarily wrong to keep repeating something. While Jesus warned against 'vain repetitions' He did not warn against repetitions.'

I wonder what would happen if Psalm 136 were to be set to modern music?

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Oh, give thanks to the God of gods! For His mercy endures forever.

Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords! For His mercy endures forever.

To Him who alone does great wonders, For His mercy endures forever.

To Him who by wisdom made the heavens, For His mercy endures forever.

To Him who laid out the earth above the waters, For His mercy endures forever.

To Him who made great lights, For His mercy endures forever.

The sun to rule by day, For His mercy endures forever.

The moon and stars to rule by night, For His mercy endures forever.

And so it goes for another fifteen verses. Over and over we read 'for His mercy endures forever.'

Sometimes repetition helps. I use it a lot when I teach. Advertisers know that repetition works.

Possibly these words are repeated over and over again because we are so thick that we need it drilled into our skulls. Good situations, bad situations, indifferent situation; it makes no difference – 'His mercy endure sforever.'

There is a great lesson from Psalm 136. No matter what we encounter today God's mercy is strong enough to endure through it. That is well worth repeating.