lovingkindness
"For His lovingkindness is everlasting."
Psalm 136:1b,2b,3b,4b,5b,6b,7b,8b,9b,10b,11b,12b,13b,
14b,15b,16b,17b,18b,19b,20b,21b,22b,23b,24b,25b,26b
Yes, it says it that many times in one Psalm.
Recently I read a book called "More Than Meets The Eye" by Richard Swenson. It talks about God's Creation and how awesome it is and continually points out that God did that, and God is even MORE AWESOME than His creation. His creation is simply a display of His glory, not His glory itself.
The book focuses on many parts of creation, but it spent a lot of time on the cosmos: energy, force, matter, newtonian physics, einstein's theories of relativity (which are probably true), string theory, stars, time, space, light and other stuff. i loved reading it and learning more about God's creation. it even inspired me to do some more research on what happens when you go the speed of light and time travel etc. pretty incredible stuff.
but, i've been reading through the psalms, and a couple days ago i got to psalm 136. when i read verse 5 it hit me. v3a says, "Give thanks to the Lord of lords..." v5 is a continuation of this thanksgiving and says, "to Him who by understanding made the heavens...".
i just read a book that helped me understand the heavens better. "better". maybe i understand them 0.0384%. in that book i read about newton and kepler and einstein trying to understand the heavens. as einstein himself was figuring out more about quantum physics he was appalled that things would work the way they do. so much so that he said he would "rather be a cobbler, or even an employee in a gambling house, than a physicist." (p136) even the genius einstein couldn't understand how things work.
but God. God, in His INFINITE understanding...not only understands the universe--He created it by His understanding!
He created and understands black holes, superstrings, why gravity exists, how time correlates with space, how to make stars (all the different kinds of them), why venus spins the opposite way of the other planets, antimatter, the weak nuclear force, the strong nuclear force, quantum physics...
He understands it all. but even though Creation declares His glory (ps 19), it does not declare it fully. His glory is infinite. His understanding is infinite. Creation is only a partial, a fractional, display of how much understanding God has. surely His understanding was not exhausted by Creation!
His understanding is impressive! It is worth being in awe of! His Creation is incredible! It is worth being in awe of!
BUT, that's NOT the point of this Psalm!!! Basic reading skills tell us that. The phrase "For His lovingkindness is everlasting" is repeated twenty-six times in this psalm! God's lovingkindness is the focus of this psalm! God's lovingkindness is EVERLASTING! Creation as we know it will be changed and destroyed. It is not everlasting. God's lovingkindness is.
if God's Creation is worthy of awe...His lovingkindness is infinitely more so.
Psalm 136:1b,2b,3b,4b,5b,6b,7b,8b,9b,10b,11b,12b,13b,
14b,15b,16b,17b,18b,19b,20b,21b,22b,23b,24b,25b,26b
Yes, it says it that many times in one Psalm.
Recently I read a book called "More Than Meets The Eye" by Richard Swenson. It talks about God's Creation and how awesome it is and continually points out that God did that, and God is even MORE AWESOME than His creation. His creation is simply a display of His glory, not His glory itself.
The book focuses on many parts of creation, but it spent a lot of time on the cosmos: energy, force, matter, newtonian physics, einstein's theories of relativity (which are probably true), string theory, stars, time, space, light and other stuff. i loved reading it and learning more about God's creation. it even inspired me to do some more research on what happens when you go the speed of light and time travel etc. pretty incredible stuff.
but, i've been reading through the psalms, and a couple days ago i got to psalm 136. when i read verse 5 it hit me. v3a says, "Give thanks to the Lord of lords..." v5 is a continuation of this thanksgiving and says, "to Him who by understanding made the heavens...".
i just read a book that helped me understand the heavens better. "better". maybe i understand them 0.0384%. in that book i read about newton and kepler and einstein trying to understand the heavens. as einstein himself was figuring out more about quantum physics he was appalled that things would work the way they do. so much so that he said he would "rather be a cobbler, or even an employee in a gambling house, than a physicist." (p136) even the genius einstein couldn't understand how things work.
but God. God, in His INFINITE understanding...not only understands the universe--He created it by His understanding!
He created and understands black holes, superstrings, why gravity exists, how time correlates with space, how to make stars (all the different kinds of them), why venus spins the opposite way of the other planets, antimatter, the weak nuclear force, the strong nuclear force, quantum physics...
He understands it all. but even though Creation declares His glory (ps 19), it does not declare it fully. His glory is infinite. His understanding is infinite. Creation is only a partial, a fractional, display of how much understanding God has. surely His understanding was not exhausted by Creation!
His understanding is impressive! It is worth being in awe of! His Creation is incredible! It is worth being in awe of!
BUT, that's NOT the point of this Psalm!!! Basic reading skills tell us that. The phrase "For His lovingkindness is everlasting" is repeated twenty-six times in this psalm! God's lovingkindness is the focus of this psalm! God's lovingkindness is EVERLASTING! Creation as we know it will be changed and destroyed. It is not everlasting. God's lovingkindness is.
if God's Creation is worthy of awe...His lovingkindness is infinitely more so.
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,
for His steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods,
for His steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
to Him who alone does great wonders,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
to Him who by understanding made the heavens,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
to Him who spread out the earth above the waters,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
to Him who made the great lights,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
the sun to rule over the day,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
the moon and stars to rule over the night,
for His steadfast love endures forever;Psalm 136:1-9 (ESV)
posted by Elias at 21:38
6 Comments:
and, no, i don't fully grasp that.
We are so temp minded that it's hard to grasp everlasting. Our minds struggle to understand how anything can be without having a beginning and an end. But not our God! He is ever faithful, ever loving, ever joyful, ever peaceful, ever merciful, ever graceful....and the list goes on and on. Again, Elias another great post!
i love in eph 2 when paul wrote, "but God . . . !!" those two words stop me everytime. but God. creation is indescribable. science is unfigurable. but God! oh to even begin to think on Him. it stops you. where to begin? can we begin? can we grasp even 0.00348% or whatever you said? no!! because there is more to His name GOD than i will ever know!!!
the glory of God is so inconceivable to us!! i love in Exodus 33 when Moses says "please show me Your glory." it's such a bold request!!! and of course, a request that God could not fully grant.
something else to look at: exodus 34:29-35 and 2 Cor. 3:1-18
eph 2 is amazing! i have that "but God" underlined in my bible! those words change everything.
Hi. I hope you don't mind a stranger leaving a comment. I was just wowed by your blog!
WOW. Well said.
I homeschool, so almost everyday as we are studying science I get in awe of the incomprehensible greatness of God! I can't imagine being a scientist or physicist...the more you know and "discover" the more you understand how little you know!
That's so interesting. I was just about to post something about this. I was taking a walk yesterday and was overwhelmed by creation. I was enjoying the beauty of a tree and it hit me how overwhelming complex something so ordinary is. Even more interesting is the fact that the more I study science, the less I understand.
I'm so glad God is complex because I wouldn't want a God that was as simple as me.
Post a Comment
<< Home