Our daily reflections follow the M'Cheyne Bible reading plan, designed for those who want to read the whole Bible in one year. Each reflection focuses on one of the chapters from that day's readings. Darllenwch rhain yn Gymraeg.
Lord, open my ears to hear what you have to say to me; open my heart to love your word, and open my mind to understand your truth.
Psalm 135 and 136 belong together. They both take God's power shown in creation as a sign of his enduring love, as well as the Exodus and his preservation of the Israelites against the Amorites and Canaanites. There's some wonderfully powerful poetry here: God 'built the earth on the deep waters; his love is eternal' (136.4); 'He led his people through the desert; his love is eternal' (verse 16).
The repeated refrain, though, leads to some oddities. God 'killed the first-born sons of the Egyptians'; he 'drowned the king of Egypt and his army' and 'killed powerful kings'; in each case, 'his love is eternal'. It's not just that this is the pattern of this particular psalm, either; Psalm 135 has the same ideas (8–12). God's destruction of Israel's enemies is a sign of his love.
Nowadays we're rightly a bit squeamish about this idea. Behind it, though, lies the conviction that God's commitment to his people is absolute: he loves them fiercely and passionately. There's a well-known film in which the father of a daughter kidnapped for the sex trade will stop at nothing to rescue her. Taken is shockingly violent, but Liam Neeson's character is driven by love for his daughter and an uncompromising sense of justice. He is unstoppable.
We don't rejoice in the deaths of enemies. But in these psalms we are meant to feel the same sense that God is irresistibly for us. Nothing gets in the way of his love for us.
God, thank you for your great love and mercy to me and to all your people. Help me to trust that you will never let me go.
This reflection was written by Mark Woods, Bible Society's Editor
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