Psalm 136 can be touted as the “The Psalm of Thanks” or the “Thanksgiving Psalm.” It is a Psalm that is rich in content, apropos the character of God and since each verse in the Psalm is suffixed with “For his mercy endures forever”, it is a Psalm that is easy to read and memorize as well.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, giving thanks for the ultimate reason of sending us his only begotten Son, we will be looking at each verse in Psalm 136 and glean out the character of God from these verses, which would be reason enough to be grateful and give thanks to our LORD God.
Today we look at Verses 5 and 6.
To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever.
To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Not only does this verse establish the fact that, God is wise, but it also asserts that God is a creator God. In fact, only God is wise (Romans 16:27; 1 Timothy 1:17; Jude 1:25), for even our wisdom is foolishness before God (1 Corinthians 3:19). You could take the smartest of the smart in this world, even Solomon the wise, who when pitched against God in wisdom, would turn out to be a fool. Our God is a creator God. Out of nothing, he can create (ex nihilo bara). When the earth was formless and void (nothing), God’s Holy Spirit hovered it and God created everything by his wisdom (Genesis 1)
Points to ponder:
Out of the barrenness / emptiness / voidness of our life, when the Holy Spirit of God hovers over our dark and tumultuous life, as the waves (circumstances) of life try to engulf us, God can speak fullness of life (abundant life) into us (John 10:10), when we believe and trust in him. He can stretch forth his hand over those waters and command “Peace” (Mark 4:35-41); a peace that passeth all understanding (Philippians 4:7) given to those whose mind is fixed on Jesus trusting him (Isaiah 26:3; Hebrews 12:2) and assure us to “Be still and know that he is God” (Psalm 46:10)
Psalm 136:5-6 (KJV)
5 To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever.
6 To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.
