Thoughts on Psalm 36

In my personal devotion time the promise a couple of days ago was, “My love stretches to the heavens and My faithfulness extends above the clouds.” The verse that went along with the promise was Psalm 36:5. I read the verse and recognized it as part of a Third Day song. However the song uses several verses in Psalm 36 so I read the entire passage.

The part that stood out to me (and that most of the song is taken from) is verses 5-9:

Thy lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens,

Thy faithfulness reaches to the skies.

Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God;

Thy judgments are like a great deep.

O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast.

How precious is Thy lovingkindness, God!

And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings.

Thy drink their fill of the abundance of Thy house;

And Thou dost give them to drink of the river of Thy delights.

For with Thee is the fountain of life;

In Thy light we see light.

[NASB[

Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit down. However when I read passages like this in Scripture, I am encouraged for a time. Meditating on God’s love and faithfulness brings hope to my thoughts and feelings. It tells us right in this passage that He preserves man and beast. There have been many occasions in my life where God has preserved me. When I’ve felt like I was at the end of my rope and had no place to go (and was contemplating suicide as a viable option) He has prevented me from following through. He has preserved me when my diabetes has gotten out of control and I was in physical danger. Again, I survived. There have been times when I didn’t know what the next right thing to do was, and somehow, I did the right things.

It’s all because of His faithfulness and lovingkindness that He shows to His people. Some people might say that I did those things and that it had nothing to do with God’s intervention. I know that’s not the case. If it was based on my own strength and wisdom, I’d still be drunk, for one thing. My best thinking and willpower only got me into trouble. That’s true in all areas of my life.

So today, I meditate on His love and faithfulness to preserve me, in spite of myself. It’s only because of Him that I have life and am able to get to a point where I see light (and not the darkness in my own thoughts). How has God been loving and faithful to you?