We are studying the Psalms this month at church.  Some of them are tremendous.  Wonderful.  Others, well I struggle with them.  Such as the one we are looking at next Sunday.  Of all the passages in the Bible, I don't know why the Education Board chose this one.  Since you only get 52 Sundays in a year, I'd probably take 51 of them out of the New Testament.  That said,  Psalm 136 was used in worship back in Jewish history.  It is a responsive reading.  There are twenty six verses, and all of them make a statement of thanksgiving, or praise, or some attribute of God.  Each verse has one sentence, verbalized by the Jewish Rabbi.  Followed by a response of the people. Which was the same response in all of the twenty six verses:  "For his mercy endures for ever."

My point is that while it is interesting, and while it is true, there isn't much that I can teach my class  about a responsive reading--for application.  And I am an application teacher.  I want to read God's word and say, "Ah-ha.  So that's what God wants.  That's what I need to be doing better."

However, it does give us something that we should be doing.  "O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good."  Answered by the people,  "For his mercy endures forever."  The second, third, and twenty-sixth verses are almost exactly the same words.  The others tell something that God did.

So I will probably point out to my class that the thing that is called for in this Psalm, is to give thanks to God.  Paul tells us it is a required thing to do.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 "In everything give thanks.  For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."  When you read something that talks about God's will, you should pay attention.  Those statements aren't open for interpretation.

We spend too much time thinking about the things that are going wrong in our lives instead of the things that are going right.  But if we stop, think about what we have that is wonderful; think about how we have been blessed, our attitude will improve.  It's that cup half full, cup half empty thing.

Give thanks.  It's God's will that you do it.  In everything.  Not about, or for everything.  Just stop and think about what is good--when you are in a bad situation.  It's there.  As Psalm 136 says 26 times, "For His mercy endures for ever."  Maybe that's what we are supposed to get out of this Psalm.  Be thankful and remember:  We are loved by a merciful God.