Psalms 117 – 118
All of Psalm 117 is short, sweet and to the point:
1 Praise the Eternal, all nations.
Raise your voices, all people.
2 For His unfailing love is great, and it is intended for us,
and His faithfulness to His promises knows no end.
Praise the Eternal!
We need to understand this and live it. We need as a nation to praise the Lord, not just in our quite little prayer room. Lift them up and praise God. The love He represents is unfathomable even looking at the sacrifice of His first born, Jesus. We really understand this when we become parents, but that is only a small portion of how much God cares for us, for YOU. Key is praise God!!
Verse 118:1 starts a Psalm containing the other key to interfacing with God:
Give thanks to the Eternal because He is always good.
He never ceases to be loving and kind.
The idea we need to give thanks is difficult to understand in troubled times. Let’s take the worst case and the “tribulation” started tomorrow. Would you be thankful or sorrowful? Our day to day struggles sometimes seem catastrophic when in the middle, but as time goes on sometimes the worst event either turns into good or at the very least builds character. We cannot understand what will happen in the future that will make what seems to be a curse, a blessing.
Like Paul we need to praise God in all things, good AND bad. Heck we may die a long horrible death and suffer immensely and our witness in this time is critical. Think about it this way, it’s easy to thank God when things are good but more people notice your actions when things are bad. I have seen more torn from the faith by experiencing hypocrisy of apparent faithful leader.
Verse 118: 22 ties into Jesus’ words to Peter:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very stone that holds together the entire foundation.
That “stone” has always been foundational in the story of God, from Moses who was a murderer to Peter the denier to Paul the persecutor to YOU. Notice God seems to work through those who least likely and not those on the center stage. That is a fallacy we fall into, but the dynamic leader is the least likely in God’s kingdom.