Welcome to the Daily Blade. The word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Alright, welcome to a new week of the Daily Blade. All week we're going to be looking at Psalm 136. So the English Standard Version of the Bible names this psalm his steadfast love endures forever. So the author of this exact psalm and the exact date of the writing of the psalm is not known, but it does have the earmarks of a post-exilic writing, so post-exile, which would place it near the 5th century BC. So structurally, this psalm is a liturgical hymn of thanksgiving. And it hinges on the antiphonal repetition of this one line, and it's this one line from the ESV, for his steadfast love endures forever. And you may have heard it in some other translations, King James Version, for his mercy endureth forever. The CSB, his faithful love endures forever. And the Nazbi, for his loving kindness is everlasting. So what is the central focus and reason for the repetition of this one line? It is God's character, his defining attribute. And it's the Hebrew word Hasid, okay? And that's how God's character is the engine of history. So Hasid can be difficult to translate, but the meaning implies that God's love is not just a feeling, right? Not how we feel like we love something. It is a binding commitment between God and each one of us. And that refrain is repeated 26 times in this one short psalm. So we're going to break this psalm up into five sections as we study this week, but I would highly encourage you to just read the entire thing every day this week as we go through. Today we're going to look at verses one through three, and I'll read them here. 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. So in this first section, we need to focus on two things God's goodness and God's supremacy. So let's start with God's goodness. Again, verse one, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. So as revealed in Scripture, God is good for a multitude of reasons. He's good because morally speaking, he is perfect. You know, he created the morality by which we even judge good and bad, right? He's good because the default mechanism of his character is benevolence. He's good because of his faithfulness and his faithful kindness towards all of his creation, to include all of us. And ultimately, God isn't good because he does good stuff. He's good because it is his essential attribute to be good. So this is a common refrain throughout the Bible. So Psalm 34, 8, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 100, verse 5, for the Lord is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. And as recorded in Exodus 33, Moses asked God if he will show him his glory, and God responded by saying, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name, the Lord, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy to whom I will show mercy. And now we need to talk about God's supremacy. So verses two and three of Psalm 136, give thanks to the God of gods, give thanks to the Lord of Lords. So he is not a god amongst other gods, like he's not a little g god amongst other little g gods. He is not a lord amongst other lords, lowercase l, right? He is the god of gods, the capital G God of gods and the capital L Lord of Lords. You see, our God is a jealous god because he is above all of the other little G gods and all the other little L lords, right? That we are tempted to put in front of him throughout our lives. And the little G gods and little L lords aren't inherently bad. They're just inherently vacuous when compared to the goodness of God. So, like building a successful business is a good thing, it just makes a terrible God or Lord. Getting in really good shape is a good thing, and I talk about it all the time. It just makes a terrible God or Lord, and even pursuing personal development, right, so that you can be better for those around you, that's a very good thing, but it just makes a very terrible God or Lord. We would do well to remember what God says about himself in reference to everything else. He is above all other gods, he is supreme over earth's kings and rulers, he is the ruler of heaven and earth. Again, Psalm 136, one through three reminds us that God is good in nature and in deed, and his supremacy is unquestionable. If your life does not align with that, then it needs to. His steadfast love endures forever.

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