Psalm 117 is the shortest
chapter of the Bible with a wonderful and encouraging message for all the world.
The very first verse gives every person in the world hope that there is a way
of salvation and that there is something to live for! We were created to
worship the one and true God! We should live to praise Him. Psalm 117 is of
course a psalm in the Jewish hymn book written primarily for the Jewish nation.
But this verse, that is quoted in Romans 15:11, assures us that the Gospel is
for the Gentiles too. And also, that all the people groups of the world are to
praise Jehovah.
The psalm opens and closes with "praise the Lord," for praising the Lord ought to be a mark of
every believer today as it was of the new Christians in the early church (Acts
2:47). The first "praise" translates the familiar Hebrew word hallel
which gives us "hallelujah—praise the Lord." The second
"praise" is shavah, which means "to boast, to extol and
laud." When we praise the Lord, we not only tell Him of His greatness, but
we also "brag on Him" to those who hear our songs. Worship and praise
are the highest occupations to which we can dedicate our voices, the activities
that will occupy us for all eternity!
As I said yesterday, a worshiping people will be a witnessing people. As we are on the eve of a new
year, let me take a minute to encourage you to investigate and find a frontier unreached
people group in the world with little or no access to the Gospel, and then
surrender yourself to take at least a minute each day to pray for that group of
people. A good place to find this information is the on website of the Joshua
Project https://joshuaproject.net/. This site will not only give you information
on the 4,851 Frontier People Groups that make up a fourth (2,008,541,000) of
the world’s population of 8 billion people, but it will also inform you how to
pray for them.
In verse 2a, we are reminded we can always depend on God's great love. Have we forgotten that "it is
of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed" (Lam. 3:22)? We have
been saved by grace, not by our good works (Eph. 2:8-9), and were it not for
God's merciful lovingkindness, we would still be in darkness and death. How
unfortunate that some of the Jewish leaders became proud of being God's chosen people
and began to look down upon others. They even called the Gentiles
"dogs." But God's people today are often guilty of the same sin. "His
merciful kindness is great toward us" (v. 2a) so we have nothing to
boast about. "Not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Eph.
2:9). If we are humble before the Lord, He can use us to reach others, but if
we are proud, He will reject us. "God resists the proud but gives grace
to the humble" (1 Peter 5:5). We are saved by grace, and we live by
grace, depending wholly on the Lord's generosity in Jesus Christ. A proud
church is a weak church. To enjoy the praise of men is to lose the blessing of
God.
In verse 2b we are encouraged to rest on the divine assurance of God’s truth and faithfulness. Yes, God's
people are saved by faith and live by faith, but our faith would mean nothing
were it not for His faithfulness that "endures forever." The word
translated "truth" or "faithfulness" means in
Hebrew "to be firm, to be unshakable." God's character cannot
change, and His promises will not change, so why are we fretting about the
feelings within us and the circumstances around us? Why do we hesitate to obey Him
when He abounds in faithfulness (Ex. 34:6)? If God calls us to do something, He
is faithful to help us do it (1 Thess. 5:24). To rely on our faith is to put
faith in faith, but to rely on God's faithfulness is to put faith in the Lord.
Our assurance is in the Word of God and the God of the Word.
Hebrews 13:8 reminds us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” He will never change! As
we prepare for next year why not surrender your heart and life to trust and
obey Him every day!
God bless!
