Verse of the Day for November 18

Psalm 136 has the same line twenty six times. For his mercy endureth for ever. A leader would sing out one line of history, and the people would answer with the refrain, over and over.

Read the whole psalm and you notice something uncomfortable. The refrain is not only attached to the pleasant lines. It follows the plagues, the wilderness, the kings who fell. Whatever the line before, the answer is the same.

That is what makes it useful on the day God says no. The no is a line in your story, and it may be a painful one. A prayer you prayed for years, a door that stayed shut, a person who did not recover. The refrain does not deny the pain of the line. It simply refuses to change its answer.

Verse 2 adds that he is the God of gods. Above every other power you might have hoped would rescue you. If he has said no, it is not because something stronger got in his way.

You do not have to like the no. You can cry about it in the corridor outside the ward, or into your pillow tonight. But when you have said the hard line, try answering it the old way. His mercy endures. Still. For ever.

You can say the hard sentence and still sing the refrain after it.

A no from God is not a sign that his mercy has run out.