The Unforgettable Responsive Reading

Psalm 136:1-9

1Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!

His faithful love endures forever.

2Give thanks to the God of gods.

His faithful love endures forever.

3Give thanks to the Lord of lords.

His faithful love endures forever.

4Give thanks to him who alone does mighty miracles.

His faithful love endures forever.

5Give thanks to him who made the heavens so skillfully.

His faithful love endures forever.

6Give thanks to him who placed the earth on the water.

His faithful love endures forever.

7Give thanks to him who made the heavenly lights—

His faithful love endures forever.

8the sun to rule the day,

His faithful love endures forever.

9and the moon and stars to rule the night.

His faithful love endures forever.

It was midnight on Thursday, February 8, A.D. 356, and Athanasius, a leader in the early Christian church and passionate defender of the deity of Jesus Christ, was leading a worship service. Suddenly loud shouts and clashing armor could be heard outside the church. Soldiers had come to arrest him.

But Athanasius said, “I didn’t think it right, at such a time, to leave my people,” so he continued the service. He asked a deacon to read Psalm 136 and then requested the congregation to respond with the refrain “His faithful love endures forever,” which they did twenty-six times over the din of the soldiers outside.

Just as the final verse was completed, the soldiers rushed into the church, brandishing their swords and spears and crowding forward up the nave toward Athanasius. The people yelled for Athanasius to run, but he refused to go until he had given a benediction. Then some of his assistants gathered tightly around him, and, as he recounts it, “I passed through the crowd of people unseen and escaped, giving thanks to God that I had not betrayed my people, but had seen to their safety before I thought of my own.”

Athanasius was portraying to his people God’s love, which endures forever. He was willing to lay down his life for his flock—just as Jesus had laid down his life for his flock a few centuries earlier.

Since God’s “faithful love endures forever,” why is there ever any need to worry?

Let us with a gladsome mind,

Praise the Lord for he is kind;

For his mercies aye endure,

Ever faithful, ever sure.

JOHN MILTON

A Word on Words

The word translated as “faithful love” throughout this psalm has also been translated as “mercy,” “steadfast love,” “kindness,” “loyalty,” and even “covenant faithfulness.”

Bible Networking

God’s “faithful love” flows out of the solemn covenant he made with his people in Genesis 15:18.