Many years ago, I was asked to read the Psalm at a friend’s wedding. Actually, two of us friends shared in reading Psalm 136.
The other friend, a gentleman, read the first lines, and I read the alternate lines. All the initial lines of this Psalm are about the great feats of God: how he saved his people from slavery in Egypt, how he parted the Red Sea, and how he struck down Pharaoh.
All the second lines, mine, were exactly the same: “For his steadfast love endures forever.”
At first, I tried to jazz up the lines, putting the emphasis in different areas.
“For his steadfast love endures forever.”
“For his steadfast love endures forever.”
But I quickly noticed that these lines did not need to have some sort of flourish. The very point was that they remained the same. That God remained the same. God is steadfast.
Throughout the years, through Israel’s grumbling and complaining, disobedience and betrayal, God’s love endured—forever. Now that is patience.
Recently, my son encountered a new trial in his life. He is, after all, a teenager. When this new interpersonal trial came his way, I gave advice, but I did not tell him what to do. I let my son figure it out on his own.
The situation came to conflict that was indeed painful, and when it was all over, my son asked me why I didn’t out-and-out tell him what to do or tell him to stop what he was doing. I told him that he needed to figure it out on his own. By experiencing it, he would learn.
He is learning how to be a good brother, son, and friend, and all of this will teach him resilience and integrity. He will learn how to be, one day, a good husband and father.
My son thought about this a bit and then said, “I don’t think I’d be as patient if I were a parent.”
“I am patient with you because I love you,” I told him.
I didn’t tell him how painful it was to watch him make a few poor decisions before he eventually made the right one. But my son needs to know that his parents try to model what our Heavenly Father has shown us: to be patient. God is patient with us because he loves us—forever.
I look back to that reading from Psalm 136 at my friends’ wedding. My friends now have been married for 25 years. It was the perfect Scripture to read at a wedding. It reminded the couple, all those in the congregation, and me whose patient love we were to imitate.
In his perfect love and patience, so intimately intertwined, God teaches us how to be good wives, husbands, parents, and children.
For his steadfast love endures forever.
Photo by Shera Banerjee on Pexels.
Beautiful! And yes, Our God is steadfast, never changing-full of love, compassion and patience, and grace. We thank Him. You are to be admired for your parenting skills! Your children are blessed indeed.