His Mercy Endureth Forever

When the ark of the covenant arrived in Jerusalem, the people gathered and King David delivered a psalm, which included the following words of praise:

O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

1 Chronicles 16:34

Many years later, when the temple of Solomon was completed, the occasion was marked by music: singers, cymbals, psalteries, harps, and one hundred and twenty trumpets. The words which they sang hearkened back to the joy of King David: “They lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever” (2 Chronicles 5:13).

Solomon then offered the dedicatory prayer, and the glory of the Lord filled His house. The people in attendance spontaneously fell to the ground in worship and said in unison the same words: “For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever” (2 Chronicles 7:3).

This statement appears in several of the psalms—Psalm 106, Psalm 107, and Psalm 118—but most notably in Psalm 136. Every verse in that psalm ends with the phrase, “for his mercy endureth for ever.”

Several decades after the destruction of the temple of Solomon in 587 BCE, the former inhabitants of Jerusalem were allowed to return and rebuild the temple. When the foundation of the temple was laid, the people gathered to celebrate this milestone. They wept, they shouted for joy, and “they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel” (Ezra 3:11).

Surely they recognized the significance of those words, and they recited them to honor the memory of earlier events in this holy place. But the words had special meaning for them as well. This group of people, who had been in captivity for many years, knew something about God’s enduring mercy, and they were grateful that He had provided this opportunity to start again.

Mormon reminds us that “charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever” (Moroni 7:47). We can always count on God’s love. It is reliable. It is permanent. Nothing in this world can make Him stop loving us.

Today, I will be grateful for a God whose mercy endureth forever. I will be grateful for the permanence of His love, and I will rely on that permanence as I place my trust in Him.