Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What's the Refrain of Your Life? | The Writings | Psalm 136

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

What's the refrain that shapes your life? Stuff happens? Be yourself? YOLO? In today's episode, Patrick shares how Psalm 136 gives us a better refrain for life: "His love endures forever." Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 136

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. What's the refrain of your life? If you're not a musical person or a poetry person, let me explain what a refrain is. I think most of us know. A refrain is a melody or a lyric or a line in a song that returns from time to time. It comes back over and over again.

It's a refrain. And our lives are actually a lot like songs, if you think about it. All of our lives have refrains, echoes of notes and melodies and lyrics that repeat time and again. You know that that's the case you've experienced it. Again, I ask, what are the refrains in your life? The lines or the melodies that you use to make sense of what's happening to you, who you are, and where you're going. In the time of Jesus, there was a philosopher poet named Lucretius, and he wrote an epic poem called De Rererum Necretius. That's Latin. So in English, it's on the nature of things. Now, even if you've never heard of that

particular epic poem, you've been influenced by it. Lucretius is the person who invented the idea of atoms in this poem. In his day, this was the concept that our entire universe is composed of tiny particles that by some mystery came to be our world and came to be ourselves. In one striking image from the poem, he describes Adam's snowballing and collecting, eventually creating chimeric beings with the pieces and parts of different animals. It was only with time that the world, as we know it, came into existence. Lucretius came from a pagan culture, but he wasn't quite a pagan himself. If there were gods, they weren't creators in Lucretius's view. And they certainly weren't all-powerful. Instead, the gods were beings, creation.

by the same random, accidental, atomic processes that generated human life. And I hope you can begin to hear one of the refrains in his work, which is that life is random. In modern parlance, we might say stuff happens. Of course, with a different word than stuff. All of this should make you ask, is that a refrain that you use to make sense of your life? That stuff happens. That things are random. And so if there's good, it's good. but if there's bad, what can you do? I know in my darker moments I felt this way, especially in battles with depression and anxiety. That old refrain stuff happens. It can be comforting in a strange way. It's comforting because it allows us to say that what's happening

isn't my responsibility or my fault. It's also comforting because it tells us that there isn't much I can do to change things. I know plenty of people who avoid conflict for this exact reason. Stuff happens. I don't want to get in a fight with someone or risk my reputation or risk my comfort by acting like I can change things. But we have to admit, it's kind of a strange comfort. Because it removes our sense of agency in the world. And the problem is that God designed us to be like him. Beings with agency. Beings who can change things. So when we give up and give in, There's a part of ourselves that dies and shrivels. Hopelessness and nihilism may seem like a mercy in the moment, a mercy in despair.

But in truth, hopelessness and nihilism, they're nothing but a curse. Is that a refrain in your life? Stuff happens. But let's go back to Lucretius. He's not just the inventor of that hopeless old refrain, stuff happens. He was also an Epicurean. And these were philosophers who, didn't believe in an afterlife. And because we only have one life, which is itself attended by all

this randomness, well, that means that your goal should be to eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Basically, if life is harsh and difficult and short, then the wisest thing to do is to chase your desires, to seek pleasure, and to make the most of what you have. Yet again, Lucretius echoes in the present. You only live once. Now, I'm pretty sure that saying Yolo isn't cool anymore. In fact, these days it's mostly a joke. But that doesn't mean the refrain isn't a potent one. We live in a culture that values independence and autonomy.

We think that the key to a happy life is authenticity and authentically chasing after your own desires. We value self-expression, and we think that if someone challenges my self-expression, that that person is being barbaric. And so we should all be authentic to our sexual desires, to our internal sense of gender, to our desires for comfort, for stuff. We also say treat yourself and celebrate that as self-care.

In fact, while everything around self-care isn't really wrong or bad, there is a deep sense in which much of our self-care movement is driven by good old Lucretius. I treat myself, I pamper myself, and take care of myself because life is random. and I only have one life and there's no one else who's going to make that one life full of happiness and fulfillment. So what about you? Does the refrain you only live once drive your decision making? Does treat yourself or self-care set the agenda for what you do? Does eat, drink, and be merry describe how you make sense of a random world? Are these the mantras, the refrains that get you through hard times? You see, every life has a refrain.

your life has a refrain. It probably has several refrains, actually. So I want to ask you, what is your refrain? It might not be those. It might be something else, but what are the little phrases, the little ideas that you repeat to yourself to make sense of your world? Psalm 136 includes an actual refrain. After every line, the psalmist says of God, his love endures forever. And what's fascinating is that in this Psalm, he can see, the nature of things and how nature works. And his refrain is his love endures forever. Verse four. To him alone who does great wonders, his love enduers forever, who by his understanding made the heavens. You see the reflection on nature happening? His love enduers forever.

Who spread out the earth upon the waters. His love enduers forever. Who made the great lights. He's talking about the sun and the moon. His love endures forever. The sun to govern the day. His love endures forever. The moon and the stars to govern the night. His love enduers forever. That's the refrain of nature according to the psalmist. After this, he considers Israel's history and how it was full of hardship and slavery, but also full of glory and triumph. And you know what he says again and again, his love endures forever. That's how he understands history and its inner workings. And then he considers his own life and his own hardships, and he says this. Verse 23, He remembered us in our low estate. His love endures forever. And freed us from our enemies.

His love endures forever. He gives food to every creature. His love enduers forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever. When the psalmist looks at the world, when he looks at history, when he looks at his own life, he knows there is only one true refrain. It all exists. It all happens. It is all happening because the love of God enduers forever. Like all ancient Israelites, he knew hunger far more than we do. He knew disease far more than we do. but he also knew days of fullness and health, and whatever came he said the same refrain, his love enduers forever.

What if this became the refrain of your life? It would not only give you comfort because a loving God super intends over every detail of your existence, it would also give you confidence to act because a loving God superintends over all of nature, over all of history, and over your life. What if he made that your refrain today? When you receive the cancer diagnosis,

His love endures forever. When a friend snubs you at work, His love endures forever. When you get a promotion, His love endures forever. When you have a child, his love endures forever. You see, Lucretius was right in one sense. From a human perspective,

we really can't make sense of everything that happens in our life. there is a seeming randomness to the world. And even the wisest person can't explain or see through that seeming randomness. And yet Lucretius was wrong because the randomness is a mirage. It's created by our own finite minds, by our own limitations. The ultimate reality is not chance. It's not happenstance. The ultimate reality is the love of God.

It is the love that made the world. It is the love that guides history towards its beautiful climax in Christ. It is a love that guides your life on good and on bad days. You may not be able to say how, but that doesn't make it any less true. So make that your refrain today in every moment, good or bad, sweet or sour, glorious or banal. His love endures forever.