Focal Passage: Psalm 136:1-5, 10-15, 23-26
In her autobiography, The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom tells a story of her sister Betsie encouraging her to be thankful in all circumstances.
Corrie tells her that there is no way she will ever be thankful for the fleas that are in their concentration camp barracks.
Night after night Corrie and Betsie were able to lead Bible studies that were translated into different languages by the other women in their group.
Why?
They were able to share God’s love because their captors were afraid to enter the flea-infested building.
The things that Corrie hated so, Betsie saw as a blessing.
It was one more way that God showed that His love goes beyond our comprehension. His love provided not for their initial need, but for the eternal salvation of others.
At the beginning of each verse in Psalm 136 there is a truth about God that is followed by the statement “His love endures forever.”
Whether it is in creation, in conquest or in compassion, over and over again we see that God’s love for us is everlasting.
Twenty-six times the Psalmist reminds Israel that God’s love has seen them through the best and worst of times: through slavery in Egypt, the Exodus and into the Promised Land.
Let us be strengthened by the verses from Romans 8:35, 37-39: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”