If we learn one truth from Psalm 136, this is it: God’s steadfast love endures forever. This is the refrain after every line of the psalm. The psalmist rehearses God’s creation of the universe, His forming of the people of Israel and delivering them from slavery in Egypt, His protection of them in the wilderness and as they move into the Promised Land, and His overall goodness. After each line we read: His steadfast love endures forever. The New Testament tells us: God is love. The psalmist tells us the same thing. God doesn’t have love, or exhibit love. He is love. What an amazing promise for us all–the God of the universe who has the power of life and death over every being loves us!
Psalm 137 is one of the saddest psalms of all. The writer is in exile in Babylon with the people of Israel. He tells us their captors tell them to sing one of the songs of Zion, a song of joy and praise to the LORD. It is torment to be given such a command. How can one sing when in captivity in a foreign land? Yet, it is a call to remember Jerusalem, and in the midst of torment the psalmist lashes out for the LORD to repay their captors even to the point of dashing their babies’ heads against a rock. The violence of such a prayer is complete. Yet it shows us the LORD receives even our prayers for vengeance without being offended. He wants us to come to Him whatever our condition, whatever the state of our minds or hearts, and to rely on Him, to remember He is our God period. He isn’t our God when all is well, or when we are polite. He is our God in the good, the bad, and the seemingly insufferable.
Psalm 138 is another psalm of King David. It is a brief and powerful psalm of praise. It seems all the more powerful given that it follows Psalm 137. After reading about the depths of the people of Israel, we turn to the greatest king in their history praising God for His constant presence and work in His life. Sometimes our lives feel like that, too. One moment, we are singing and praising God for who He is, thanking Him for all He has done. The next moment, we are crying out for deliverance, or even calling on the LORD to destroy our enemies. In it all, the LORD is with us, and His steadfast love does endure forever.
Psalm 139, a psalm of King David, is one of the most beautiful and powerful of all the psalms. David reminds us of the omnipotence of God, and of His all-knowing nature. We cannot hide from Him, nor ought we desire to do so, because He is for us and with us every moment. Even when we were in our mother’s womb God knew us, in fact, He created us there and made us “fearfully and wonderfully.” As we read this record of the LORD’s presence and power in our lives, and ultimately of David’s calling out for deliverance from His enemies, we realize our God is, indeed, for us. As the Apostle Paul would remind us a thousand years later, “If the our God is for us, then who can be against us!”
As we return to Luke 8, let’s focus for a moment on the woman who touched Jesus’ robe and was healed of a bleeding disorder that had ruined her life. In the culture of Jesus’ day, anyone with a bleeding disorder was “unclean.” That meant she could not be near other people or touch them. Otherwise, they would become unclean as well. She had spent all her money on doctors, but she didn’t receive the healing that would have restored her life. Some would say she touched Jesus’ robe in desperation. After all, it was perhaps her last chance to be restored to health. In addition, she was making Jesus unclean by her touch. While she was desperate, it wasn’t desperation that caused her to touch Jesus. It was faith. She believed Jesus would heal her. She believed more than that. She believed all she had to do was touch Jesus’ robe and she would be healed. What faith! Jesus soon affirmed her faith. He felt the power leave Him, that the woman knew was there. She felt it, too. She knew she was healed. When the woman confessed what she had done, she knew Jesus could reprimand her for her action. Instead, He called her “Daughter.” Scour the gospels and you will find this is the only woman Jesus called daughter. The name is significant. It is a term of close, personal endearment. Jesus didn’t know the woman, but He did. She was a child of Abraham, the father of the Hebrew people, and a man of great faith. All who live in faith are children of Abraham. Ask Jesus or the Apostle Paul. They both say as much in their messages. Let us live as sons and daughters of Abraham, and thus of Jesus as we live in faith regardless of the dis-ease we face in our lives today. A touch from Jesus is all it takes to be restored!