January 19, 2025

Savoring the Steadfast Love of God (Psalm 36:5-10)

Preacher: Bryce Morgan Series: Our Bible Reading Plan (2024-2025) Topic: One Lord: No One Like You Scripture: Psalm 36:5–10

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Children's Lesson (click here)

I. In a World of Imperfect Love

Which of us does not want to be loved? We may look for it in the wrong places. We may accept counterfeits in its place. We may, in fact, be confused about the very definition of love, but all of us long to be loved. We can't help it. Why is that? Because we were made, we were created, to receive love, as well as to give love.

But as I just alluded, our love, and our quest for love, is wildly imperfect. And thus, we live in a world of disappointment, and frustration, and often rage. I don't have to convince you of this. All of us know this is true. But in our everyday ups and downs, what we often forget is that... there is a higher love, a better love, available to each and every one of us. That's the love King David wrote about 3000 years ago in a song we call Psalm 36. Turn there if you haven't already.

II. The Passage: “How Precious is Your Steadfast Love” (36:5-10)

Let's look together at verses 5-10. Listen the theme that David lifts up as a praise to God...

Your steadfast love, O LORD [more accurately, Yahweh], extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. [6] Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O [Yahweh]. [7] How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. [8] They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. [9] For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. [10] Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!

Though it is translated using two English words, the Hebrew word behind “steadfast love” is chesed. This word, chesed, is one of the most important words in the Old Testament (OT), used almost 250 times (half of those in Psalms). It is often translated as “loving-kindness” but it also contains the idea of faithfulness or loyalty. As one scholar expressed it, “The theological importance of the word chesed is that it stands more than any other word for the attitude which both parties to a covenant ought to maintain towards each other.” (N. H. Snaith)

That's why it is paired in v. 5 with the word “faithfulness”. They communicate a singular and powerful truth. So the first thing David tells us about the “steadfast love” of God is that it is... PROFOUND. How profound? How weighty? David uses three ideas to answer that.

Look again at how wonderfully David describes the steadfast love and faithfulness of God. He uses creation itself to paint this picture. What is God's love like? It is... immeasurable, like the heavens themselves. Go up to 'big sky' country and, during the daytime, with a sea clouds overhead, just try to take it all in. Then stay in that spot after the sun goes down, when thousands of stars fill the sky. Let them overwhelm you. Yahweh's love and faithfulness are like that. As Charles Spurgeon wrote about this verse, “Divine mercy abides in its vastness of expanse, and matchless patience, all unaltered by the rebellions of man...” That's good news!

But David doesn't stop there. In verse 6 he adds two more words to this masterpiece of stead-fast love. Do you see them? They are the words “righteousness” and “judgments”.

God's love is both the ground and an expression of God's righteousness. But look at what David emphasizes here about God's righteous character. He again turns to the natural world. God's righteousness is... immovable, just like the mighty mountains that God has created to stand firm. Solid. Unchanging. Without any wiggle or compromise. That's God's character.

Verse 6 also describes God's judgments, that is, his divine decisions. What are those judgments like? They are... unsearchable, just like the deepest parts of the ocean. We simply cannot understand the fullness of God's plan. But from the overall testimony of his divine actions, we can know such decisions are the outworking of a righteous, faithful, and loving God.

Remember, the emphasis here is on the “steadfast love” of God. That's the idea mentioned three times in our passage, starting in verse 5. Then it's repeated in verse 7, then again in verse 10. All of these other descriptions of God are tied back to his love. So how should we think about God's love according to verses 5-6? The extent of his love is immeasurable, the center of his love is immovable, and the out-workings of his love are unsearchable.

But if look back at verses 7-9, we're reminded that, according to David, the steadfast love of God should not only be profound, it should also be PERSONAL. David is not writing here as a distant observer. His description here of God's love is not a dry, conceptual entry into some textbook. He is not only writing about God's love. He is a recipient of God's love. From v.6b...

...man and beast you save, O [Yahweh]. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. [8] They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. [9] For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.

What divine actions does David have in mind here? I think these incredible verses are pointing to God as our Creator, and even more specifically, to God as the Sustainer of all life. David isn't speaking here about Israel or the people of God. He's writing about “the children of mankind”; even of “man and beast”. So notice what he's done in these verses. He's moved from using creation as an inspiration for his metaphorical descriptions of God's love, to now using creation as a literal example of God's love. Every good thing we enjoy in this life, be it shelter, be it prosperity, be it food and family, be it wine and song, this “refuge”, this “abundance”, these “delights”, this “light” and “life”, all of it is a testimony of God's stunning and steadfast love to you.

Remember what I said about God's immeasurable love? How it's overwhelming like a sea of clouds in 'big sky' country or an ocean of stars at night? Well like those realities of the natural world, as you turn to God's love... just try to take it all in. Let it... overwhelm you... personally.

If you can embrace that truth about your life, about your blessings, that they're all from God, then you should be able to say with David, (v. 7) “...how precious [priceless] is your steadfast love, O God!” You cannot simply nod your head regarding the concept of God's love. You must open your heart to the reality of that love. The proof of that love is all around you, right?!

But notice one more thing David tells us about the steadfast love of God. Yes, it is incredibly profound. Yes, it is wonderfully personal. So, because it is both of those things, it should also be PRAYER-INSPIRING. Look back with me at verse 10 and the prayer David is inspired to lift up...

Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!

If the extent of his love is immeasurable, and the center of his love is immovable, and the out-workings of his love are unsearchable, why wouldn't we be inspired to pray regularly in tune with this song of God's love? To give thanks for this perfect love. To prayer for our hearts in light of God's love? To pray that others would experience God's love? Brothers and sisters, as we come to understand better and appreciate more deeply the steadfast love of God, let it be the constant theme of your prayers. Do you believe this: it is good to be loved so well by God?

III. To Know the Love of Christ

 But it may surprise that we do not need to follow David's example in every way here. Specific-ally, we do not need to pray as he prayed in v. 10. He asked God there, “continue your steadfast love to those who know you”. But why not pray like David in this way? Well... because of the Son of David. Because God has already promised us that his love will continue in Jesus Christ. In a world of wildly imperfect love, with people like us who often look for it in the wrong places, and accept counterfeits; people who deal daily with the bitter fruit of imperfect love: disappoint-ment, frustration, and rage... in that kind of world, how sweet are these words from Paul:

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38–39)

Talk about prayer-inspiring. And that's exactly what happens to Paul in Eph. 3. His prayer is...

...that you, being rooted and grounded in love, [18] may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, [19] and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

You see, the New Testament takes that profound and personal and prayer-inspiring love of God from the Old Testament and fills it to overflowing in Jesus Christ. He certainly was and is David's descendant. But amazingly, he also was and is David's God... in human flesh; the God of Psalm 36. And if creation helped David explain and exemplify the Creator's steadfast love, just think how much more the new creation radically reveals God's heart. For as the Apostle John wrote, building on David's words, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4). That is divine light and eternal life that Jesus made possible through his death and resurrection.

Brothers and sisters, friends, think about it. How much more can it be said of the cross and the empty tomb, of the suffering and victory of Jesus, of the Creator dying for his creation, that these things reveal how the extent of his love is immeasurable, and the center of his love is immovable, and the out-workings of his love are unsearchable. Talk about profound. And that love is available to you. And it will always continue. Not because I pray for it to continue. But because Jesus ensured with his own blood that it would continue. As one hymn writer put it...

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul! What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, that caused the Lord of bliss
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul, to bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

Please understand that this isn't just a sentimental, feel good, ooey-gooey kind of assurance.

This is a sure and steady commitment from God that at all times his perfect love will pardon us, will transform us, will provide for us, will comfort us, will empower us, and will bring us all the way home to him. If you haven't, please receive that love. If you have, let's continue to savor it.