1 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His
mercy endures forever.
2 Let Israel now say, "His mercy endures
forever."
3 Let the house of Aaron now say, "His mercy endures
forever."
4 Let those who fear the LORD now say, "His mercy
endures forever."
5 I called on the LORD in distress; The LORD answered me
and set me in a broad place.
6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do
to me?
7 The LORD is for me among those who help me; Therefore I
shall see my desire on those who hate me.
8 It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence
in man.
9 It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence
in princes.
We have no idea what we might
have to face in our personal lives or in the world in 2024, but we don’t need
to despair and feel hopeless because we have a God who is good, and He is
always good even when everything is falling apart around us! Psalm 118 gives us
several things we can do when the crisis comes, and really that we should
already be doing when everything is fine.
First, we should be giving
thanks to the LORD and focus on Him and His goodness and mercy (vv. 1-4).
Usually when problems or difficult people are disturbing our peace, we begin to
focus on them. We start using up all our emotional and physical energy trying
to figure out how to solve the problem and get things back to normal. But
instead of doing that, we should take time to remember how great and awesome
our God is, and believe and look back to the cross of Jesus and His
resurrection that assures us of God’s love for us.
Then in verses 5-14, we are
assured that we can trust in Jehovah in every crisis! "The LORD" is
mentioned in every verse in this paragraph because He was the one who protected
Israel from their enemies and enabled the people to complete the work in
difficult times. In 537 b. c, Israel had been set free from captivity (v. 5),
and about 50,000 Jews returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel
the governor and Joshua the high priest. (See Ezra 3-6.) The Jews laid the
foundation of the temple in 536 B. C., but local officials interfered and the
work stopped from 536 to 520 B. C. The nations around the city did not want a
restored Jewish state in the neighborhood, so they opposed both the rebuilding
of the temple and the fortifying of the city. The work was resumed in 520 B. c.
and the temple was completed and dedicated in 515 B. C. The people learned to
trust, not in kings and princes, but in the Lord alone (vv. 8-9). They also
learned that, though the enemy might attack them like bees, the Lord would give
them victory (vv. 10-12). This was also true when Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in
444 B. C. and directed the work of rebuilding the walls and restoring the
gates.
Knowing that the nation of
Israel was God's chosen instrument for bringing blessing to the world, Satan
opposed the work and sought to destroy both the people and their city, but
faith and courage carried Israel through to victory (vv. 5-7; Heb. 13:6). The
statement in verse 14 is significant. The Jews sang it when they were delivered
from Egypt (Ex. 15:2) and when God enabled them to rebuild their temple and the
city walls (118:14). They will sing it in the future when Messiah redeems them
and establishes His kingdom (Isa. 12:2, see context). Just as "all
nations" attacked Israel in the past, and even now are attacking them, they
will do so again in the future (Isa. 29:2-7; Zech. 12:9; 14:1-5; Joel 3:1-2),
and the Lord will again rescue them. God's people must learn to trust Him in
every crisis of life.
In
closing today, it might be interesting to note that verses 8 and 9 are
considered by many to be the two middle verses of the Bible! “It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put
confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in
princes.” Wow! How fitting! Trust Jehovah in 2024!
God bless!
