Verse Text: Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.
As modern or post modern or neo-modern as our worship may become, we must take care to put down deep roots in the soil of ancient realities. The Psalms are such soil, rich with the stuff of worship. Take a look at Psalm 136, the text out of which the song, Forever, was written by Chris Tomlin. The Psalm gives us magnificent form and compelling content for worship. Seven worship lessons emerge. Lesson 1: Sing! We are so accustomed to reading the Psalms we forget they were written to be sung. Lesson 2: Worship is response language. Note the antiphonal (old worship word) pattern: God speaks and his people respond. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. (v.1) Lesson 3: The Psalms are always sharpening focus on the target of our worship. Give thanks to the God of gods. . . . to the Lord of lords. . . . to him who alone does great wonders. Aim at nothing hit nothing. The sharper our focus, the more profound will be our worship. Lesson 4: The burden of the Psalmist (a.k.a. lead worshipper) is to call us to remember the mighty deeds of our God. It happens in two movements. Accurate, biblical worship never begins with the falleness of the world but rather with the goodness of the original creation. We praise the Creator, who by his understanding made the heavens, who spread out the earth upon the waters. . . (vv.5-7)
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God speaks: from the rising to the setting sun. And we respond: His love endures forever. The second great and inspiring deed of God is redemption. We offer praise to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt and brought Israel out from among them. (vv.10-11) Lesson five: In worship the Psalmist is taking us on a journey. We are being led somewhere. True worship begins with awe-filled praise of the Creator. We then confront the fallenness of the creation through confession. At just the right moment we are ushered into the most holy place, the place of atonement, where we taste redemption and respond to God as his new creation. For the life that's been reborn, his love endures forever. Lesson six: The Psalms are always pointing to Jesus Christ. They rehearse for us the unbelievable accomplishments of God. In the face of Red Sea impossibility, God intervenes with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. (v.12) And we sing, His love endures forever. In the face of a sin depraved, unreconciled, hopeless humanity, God intervenes with mighty nail pierced hands in crucifixion and an outstretched arm in resurrection. To the One who remembered us in our low estate, his love endures forever. And freed us from our enemies, his love endures forever. (vv.23-24) Lesson seven: As we journey into worship with the Psalmist, we are inspired to creatively continue onward and upward with the praise he has begun. Sing Praise! Sing Praise! Forever God is faithful. Forever God is strong. Forever God is with us. Forever! Forever!
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