Psalm 117
The Shortest Chapter, But with a Powerful Message
Psalm 117
1 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.
With only two verses, Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in the entire
Bible. Yet only two chapters away is the longest chapter, Psalm
119. But just because it is the shortest chapter doesn't mean
that there is little to glean from it. In fact, it has a very
powerful message.
The people praise God
O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
In verse 1, The PEOPLE are exhorted to praise the Lord.
But what people? Not just Israel, but all the NATIONS of the
earth. All peoples of all nations are exhorted to praise the
Lord, the one, true, living God. The Israelites were supposed to
be God's light to the Gentiles for their time, to lead them into faith
in the true God, from whom the Messiah, the Saviour of the world would
come. This is an exortation to Gentile and Jew alike to praise
the Lord. We should all praise the Lord:
Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely. Psalm 147:1
Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise him, O ye servants of the LORD. Ps 135:1
Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. Ps 33:1
Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Ps 106:1
Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Ps 107:8
So we should praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord because:
"For his merciful kindness is great to us..."
The people are praising the Lord for His GREAT merciful kindness.
God is merciful in that He is paitient for us to come to
repentance. He desires that ALL people get saved. He does
not want ANY to go to Hell. The
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness;
but is longsuffering [patient] to us-ward, not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Pet 3:9.
God is loving and kind in that He offers us His salvation which it was
IMPOSSIBLE for us to obtain otherwise. God in His great merciful
kindness sent His Only Begotton Son to live and die for our sins.
Because of our transgressions, God had the perfect right to
destroy us and cast our souls into hell. But He chose to take
our punishment upon Himself, because of His great merciful kindness!
3 For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
Titus 3:3-6
"... and the truth of the Lord endureth forever"
The people are also to praise God because His truth, His inspired, infallible, inerrent Word endures forever. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Jesus Christ, praying to the Father, John 17:17. We are to
praise the Lord for His preserved, enduring Word, because, without this
word of truth, they would have no knowledge of God's GREAT MERCIFUL
KINDNESS. Because faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Ps 10:17. They would not have heard about God's salvation
without his Word, the Holy Bible. God preserved His word FOREVER
for the PEOPLE.
God's merciful kindness is for the PEOPLE. God's preserved,
enduring truth is for the PEOPLE. It was offered to the SCRIBES
and Pharasees, but they rejected it, trusting in their own
righteousness. Therefore, praise the Lord for His merciful
kindness toward you and His enduring truth, preserved for you.
1 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.
Psalm 117
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