Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (Psalm 136), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion…

• [1-3] This Psalm is a call to give thanks to Yahweh, for/because his love is eternal. Imagine you are asked the question, “What are you thankful for?” Do your answers ever get around to something like, “I’m thankful for God”, or “for his goodness,” or “for his love,” or “for the eternality of his love”? Are you thankful for God’s eternal love? Why or why not? Do you express your thanksgiving to him? Can you have a general attitude of “thankfulness” without actually giving thanks to God in prayer?

• [4-9] Read Genesis 1. We can give thanks to the Creator, because his love is eternal. His wondrous works of creation come from his eternal nature as the God whose being is love (1 John 4:8, 16). Do you see the creation as the outworking of his love? If not, how do you see the creation?

• [10-15] We can give thanks to the Deliverer of his people, because his love is eternal. Can we say God always acts in love when he allows his people to enter situations from which they need deliverance? Can we say God always acts in love when death is such a prominent part of his saving works? How does this recounting of Exodus point ahead to the salvation from sin that we have in Jesus Christ?

• [16] We can give thanks to the God who is with us in our times of suffering and temptation, because his love is eternal. Can we say God always acts in love when he allows us to struggle in so many ways in this life? How did Jesus “lead his people through the wilderness”?

• [17-22] We can give thanks to God who is Champion of his people, because his love is eternal. Jesus said, “No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house” (Mark 3:27). What is Jesus talking about? What “strong man” did Jesus bind and plunder? Why is this good news for us?

• [23-26] We can give thanks to the one who not only remembered us when we were low, but who himself entered our low estate in order to save us, because his love is eternal. Has it been difficult for you to pay attention to the refrain in this Psalm, for its repetition? Do you know what it’s like to explore more deeply the unfathomable depths of the eternal love of God in Christ? Can you imagine coming to a greater appreciation for his eternal love throughout your life? Throughout eternity?