It Bears Repeating (Friday Devotional)

 

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

    for his steadfast love endures forever.

- Psalm 136:1

“SHUT THE DOOR BEHIND YOU!”

I’m not sure exactly how many times I’ve shouted that to my kids in the last few weeks whenever they walk into the garage or out to the front yard. A hundred? A thousand? A million?

However many, it hasn’t seemed to sink in quite yet. They continue to throw the door open, leaving it to somebody else to shut behind them. It’s never until they hear me that they remember.

But, aggravating as it may be, do you know what I do? I keep shouting it. Why? Because what matters most to me is that they get the message, whether they remember it on their own or not.

In Psalm 136, that kind of repetition is key. The poet gives his song a simple structure: a line about the goodness and graciousness of God, followed by the chorus: “his love endures forever.” For 26 verses he follows that pattern; 26 times the reader hears the phrase, “for his steadfast love endures forever.”

Especially when read aloud, that constant reprise almost becomes comical after a while, so predictable and insistent is the chorus. But the repetition begins to take on power the longer it goes, the steadfastness of the echoed chorus matching its content. No matter what the verse says, the chorus never changes.

Some messages are worth hearing over and over and over again. God’s steadfast love endures forever—it bears repeating.