The best music ever is late 1970s rock. It’s a scientific fact.
Fight me.
Actually, I don’t want to fight anybody over music—or much of anything else, to be honest.
I just wanted to get your attention.
People of a certain age absolutely agree with my assessment of music. People who are older than me would lean toward the music of an earlier decade. People who are younger would lean later.
In general, the music of our late teens and early twenties is OUR music. That doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate, enjoy, or connect with music of other eras. It just means that there is a “coming of age” connection between our physical, psychological, and emotional development.
There are certain words—“refrains”—which, when repeated, give us a sense of rightness, balance, and equilibrium because they return us to a time when we began to discover our identity.
What are some of yours?
These are my ponderings on life this morning, most likely inspired by reading Psalm 136.
This psalm is unique among the collection of 150 psalms we find in our Bibles. There are 26 verses in the psalm and in each of them, a common refrain is repeated: “His love endures forever.”
It’s almost as if a statement is made by one person and the congregation answers each statement with this truth: “His love endures forever.”
That statement—and the way it is delivered through this psalm—has the effect on me that I described earlier. It gives me a sense of rightness, balance, and equilibrium because it reminds me of a truth that is constant and eternal in the midst of uncertain times and unstable feelings.
In my 60 years of life, I have experienced the truth of that refrain more times than I can enumerate.
In my 60 years of life, I have experienced situations that have shaken and discouraged me more times than I can enumerate. I’ve had big questions for which I’ve not received answers. I’ve had deep pain. I’ve been betrayed and wounded by those I trusted.
But the solid rock on which I’ve been able to crumple even when I could not stand is this: His love endures forever. And He proved it by sending His Son.
My friend, I’m holding out this hope to you today. His love endures forever.
No matter what may come your way. His love endures forever.
Confusion and disappointment may cloud your mind. His love endures forever.
You may search for things you never find. His love endures forever.
You’ve been abused, abandoned, betrayed. His love endures forever.
In your heart, hold onto this refrain: His love endures forever.
That’s not much of a poem, but I hope you can receive it in the way it is intended.
Life is amazing, but not because I say so. It’s amazing because—even in the most un-amazing of times—our amazing God’s amazing love is unending.
Sing it over and over again.
Be amazing today, my friend.
